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THE LIFE 



EDWARD IRVING, 



MINISTER OF 

THE NATIONAL SCOTCH CHURCH, LONDON. 



f ItatratA &jr ips f mtrnals writs €mt%pnhm. 
BY MRS OLIPHANT, ■' 



Whether I live, I live unto the Lord ; and whether I die, I die unto the Lord ; 
living or dying, I am the Lord's." Amen. 



tftftfj EWtiotu 




LONDON: 
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 



- 













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JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS 



^ 



TO ALL WHO LOVE THE MEMORY OF 



EDWARD IRVING 



WHICH THE WRITER HAS FOUND BY MUCH EXPERIMENT 



TO MEAN ALL WHO EVER KNEW HIM: 



THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE. 



It seems necessary to say something, by way of excusing 
myself for what I feel must appear to many the presumption 
of undertaking so serious a work as this biography. I need 
not relate the various unthought-of ways by which I have 
been led to undertake it, which are my apology to myself 
rather than to the public ; but I may say that, in a matter so 
complicated and delicate, it appeared to me a kind of safeguard 
that the writer of Edward Irving' s Life should be a person 
without authority to pronounce judgment on one side or the 
other, and interested chiefly with the man himself, and his 
noble courageous warfare through a career encompassed with 
all human agonies. I hoped to get personal consolation amid 
heavy troubles out of a life so full of great love, faith, and sor- 
row ; and I have found this life so much more lofty, pure, and 
true than my imagination, that the picture, unfolding under 
my hands, has often made me pause to think how such a 
painter as the Blessed Angelico took the attitude of devotion 
at his labour, and painted such saints on his knees. The large 
extracts which, by the kindness of his surviving children, I 
have been permitted to make from Irving's letters, will show 
the readers of this book, better than any description, what 
manner of man he was ; and I feel assured that to be able thus 
to illustrate the facts of his history by his own exposition of 



V1U PREFACE. 

its heart and purpose, is to do him greater justice than could 
be hoped for from any other means of interpretation. 

My thanks are due, first and above all, to Professor Martin 
Irving, of Melbourne, and to his sister, Mrs S. E. Gardiner, 
London, who have kindly permitted me the use of their father's 
letters ; to the Eev. James Brodie and Mrs Brodie, of Moni- 
mail, and Miss Martin, Edinburgh ; to J. Eergusson, Esq., 
and W. Dickson, Esq., Glasgow, nephews of Irving ; the Eev. 
Dr Grierson, of Errol ; Patrick Sheriff, Esq., of Haddington ; 
Mrs Carlyle, Chelsea; the Eev. Dr Hanna ; M. N. Mac- 
donald Hume, Esq. ; James Bridges, Esq. ; Eev. D. Ker, Edin- 
burgh ; Eev. J. M. Campbell, late of Eow ; J. Hatley Erere, 
Esq., London ; Eev. A. J. Scott, of Manchester ; Dr G. M. 
Scott, Hampstead; Eev. E. H. Story, of Eosneath; and other 
friends of Irving, some of them now beyond the reach of earth- 
ly thanks — among whom I may mention the late Henry Drum- 
mond, Esq., of Albury, and Mrs Wm. Hamilton — who have 
kindly placed letters and other memoranda at my disposal, or 
given me the benefit of their personal recollections. 

The present Edition has been carefully revised, and an 
Index added with the view of giving further completeness to 
the work. 

M. O. W. OLIPHANT. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. 












PAGE 


I. 


HIS PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 




1 


II. 


HIS COLLEGE LIFE 








. 15 


III. 


HADDINGTON 








. 21 


IV. 


KIRKCALDY 








. 28 


V. 


AFLOAT ON THE WORLD . 








. 41 


VI. 


GLASGOW 








. 51 


VII. 


LONDON, 1822 








. 76 


VIII. 


1823 . . 










. 83 


IX. 


1824 . . 










. 94 


X. 


1825 . . 










. 104 


XI. 


JOURNAL 










. 115 


XII. 


1826, 1827 










. 196 


XIII. 


1828 . . 










. 219 


XIV. 


1829 










. 253 


XV. 


1830 . . 


. 








. 274 


XVI. 


1831 . . 










. SOS 


XVII. 


1832 . . 










. 341 


XVIII. 


1833 . . 










. 385 


XIX. 


1834 — THE END 








. 404 




INDEX 










. 429 



EDWARD IRVING, 



CHAPTEE I. 

HIS PAKENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD. 

In the autumn of the eventful year 1792, at the most 
singular crisis of the world's history which has arisen in 
modern times, — when France was going mad in her revolu- 
tion, and the other nations of Christendom were crowding in, 
curious and dismayed, to see that spectacle which was to result 
in so many other changes, but far away from all those outcries 
and struggles, in the peaceful little Scotch town of Annan, 
Edward Irving, the story of whose life is to be told in the 
following pages, was born. He was the son of Gavin Irving, 
of a long-established local kindred, well known, but undis- 
tinguished, who followed the humble occupation of a tanner 
in Annan, and of Mary Lowther, the handsome and high- 
spirited daughter of a small landed proprietor in the adjacent 
parish of Dornoch. Among the Irving forefathers were a 
family of Howys, Albigenses, or at least French Protestant 
refugees, one of whom had become parish minister in Annan, 
and has left behind him some recollections of lively wit worthy 
his race, and a tombstone, with a quaint inscription, which is 
one of the wonders of the melancholy and crowded church- 
yard, or rather burying-ground ; for the present church of the 
town has left the graves behind. The same dismal enclosure, 
with its nameless mounds, rising mysterious through the 
rugged grass, proclaims the name of Irving on every side in 
many lines of kindred ; but these tombstones seem almost the 
only record extant of the family. The Lowthers were more 
notable people. The eldest brother, Tristram, whom Edward 
characterizes as " Uncle Tristram of Dornoch, the wilful," 
seems to have been one of the acknowledged characters of that 



2 THE IRVINGS AND LOWTHERS. 

characteristic country. He lived and died a bachelor, saving, 
litigious, and eccentric ; and, determined to enjoy in his lifetime 
that fame which is posthumous to most men, he erected his 
own tombstone in Dornoch churchyard, recording on it the 
most memorable of his achievements. The greatest of these 
were, winning a lawsuit in which he had been engaged against 
his brothers, and building a bridge. It appears that he showed 
true wisdom in getting what satisfaction he could out of his 
autobiographical essay while he lived ; for his respectable heirs 
have balked Tristram, and carried away the characteristic 
monument. Another brother lives in local tradition as the 
good-natured giant of the district. It is told of him that, 
having once accompanied his droves into England (they were 
all grazier farmers by profession), the Scottish Hercules, placid 
of temper, and perhaps a little slow of apprehension, according 
to the nature of giants, was refreshing himself in an old- 
fashioned tavern — locality uncertain — supposed to be either the 
dock precincts of Liverpool, or the eastern wastes of London. 
The other guests in the great sanded kitchen, where they were all 
assembled, amused themselves with an attempt to "chaff" and 
aggravate the stranger ; and finding this tedious w T ork, one 
rash joker went so far as to insult him, and invite a quarrel. 
G-eorge Lowther bore it long, probably slow to comprehend 
the idea of quarrelling with such antagonists ; at last, when 
his patience was exhausted, the giant, grimly humorous, if not 
angry, seized, some say a great iron spit from the wall, some a 
poker from the hearth, and twisting it round the neck of his 
unfortunate assailant, quietly left him to the laughter and con- 
dolences of his comrades till a blacksmith could be brought to 
release him from that impromptu pillory. Gravin Irving'swife 
was of this stout and primitive race. Her activity and cheer- 
ful, high-spirited comeliness are still well remembered by the 
contemporaries of her children ; and even the splendour of the 
scarlet riding-skirt and Leghorn hat, in which she came home 
as a bride, are still reflected in some old memories. 

The families on both sides were of competent substance 
and reputation, and rich in individual character. ISTo wealth, 
to speak of, existed among them : a little patriarchal founda- 
tion of land and cattle, from which the eldest son might per- 
haps claim a territorial designation if his droves found pros- 
perous market across the border ; the younger sons, trained to 
independent trades, one of them, perhaps, not disdaining to 
throw his plaid over his shoulder and call his dog to his heels 
behind one of these same droves, a sturdy noviciate to his 
grazier life ; while the inclinations of another might quite as 



LIFE IN ANNAN. 3 

naturally and suitably lead him to such study of law as may 
be necessary for a Scotch " writer," or to the favourite and 
most profoundly respected of all professions, " the ministry," 
as it is called in Scotland. The Irving and Lowther families 
embraced both classes, with all the intermediary steps between 
them ; aud Gavin Irving and his wife, in their little house at 
Annan, stood perhaps about midway between the homely re- 
finement of the Dumfriesshire manses and the rude profusion 
of the Annandale farms. 

Of this marriage eight children were born, — three sons, 
John, Edward, and George, all of whom were educated to learned 
professions ; and five daughters, all respectably married. All 
the sisters seem to have left representatives behind them ; but 
John and George both died unmarried before the death of 
their distinguished brother. The eldest, whom old friends 
speak of as " one of the handsomest young men of his day," 
and whom his father imagined the genius of the family, died 
obscurely in India on Edward's birthday, the 4th of August, 
in the prime of his manhood, a medical officer in the East India 
Company's service. He was struck down by a jungle fever, a 
sharp and sudden blow, and his friends had not even the satis- 
faction of knowing fully the circumstances of his death. But 
henceforward the day, made thus doubly memorable, was con- 
secrated by Edward as a solemn fast-day, and spent in the 
deepest seclusion. Under the date of a letter, written on the 
2nd of August some years after, he writes the following 
touching note : — "4 August, Dies natalis atque fatalis incidit" 
translated underneath by himself "The day of birth and of 
death draweth nigh." The highest art could not have reared 
such a monument to the early dead. 

The stormy firmament under which these children were 
born, and all the commotions going on in the outside world, 
scarcely seem to have fluttered the still atmosphere of the little 
rural town in which they first saw the light. There the quiet 
years were revolving, untroubled by either change or tumult : 
quiet traffic, slow, safe, and unpretending, sailed its corn-laden 
sloops from the "Waterfoot, the little port where Annan Water 
flows into the Solway ; and sent its droves across the border, 
and grew soberly rich without alteration of either position or 
manners. The society of the place was composed of people 
much too well known in all the details and antecedents of 
their life to entertain for a moment the idea of forsaking 
their humble natural sphere. The Kirk lay dormant, by times 
respectable and decorous, by times, unfortunately, much the 
reverse, but very seldom reaching a higher point than that of 



4 UNIVERSAL FRIENDLINESS. 

respectability. Politics did not exist as an object of popular 
interest. The " Magistrates " of Annan elected their sixth 
part of a member of Parliament dutifully as his Grace's agents 
suggested, and gleaned poor posts in the Customs and Excise 
for their dependent relations. The parish school, perhaps of a 
deeper efficiency than anything else in the place, trained boys 
and girls together into stout practical knowledge, and such 
rude classic learning as has established itself throughout Scot- 
land. High Puritanism, such as is supposed to form the distin- 
guishing feature of Scotch communities, was undreamed of in 
this little town. According to its fashion Annan was warmly 
hospitable and festive, living in a little round of social gaieties. 
These gaieties were for the most part tea parties, of a descrip- 
tion not now known, unless, perhaps, they may still linger in 
Annan and its companion-towns, — parties in which tea was a 
meal of much serious importance, accompanied by refresh- 
ments of a more substantial kind, and followed by a sober de- 
gree of joviality. The families who thus amused themselves 
grew up in the closest relations of neighbourship ; they sent 
off sons into the world to gain name and fame beyond the 
highest dreams of the countryside, yet to be fondly claimed on 
coming back with an old affection closer than fame, as still the 
well-known John or Edward of all their contemporaries in 
Annan. Nothing could contrast more strangely with the idea 
which, looking back, we instinctively form of the state of mat- 
ters at that stirring epoch, than this little neutral-coloured 
community, dimly penetrated by its weekly newspaper, living 
a long way off from all startling events, and only waking into 
knowledge of the great commotions going on around, when 
other occurrences had obliterated them, and their interest 
was exhausted. Nor was there any intellectual or spiritual 
movement among themselves to make up. The Kirk, the great 
mainspring of Scottish local life, was dormant, as we have said, 
— as indeed the Church was at this era in most places through- 
out the world. The Annan clergyman was one whom old 
parishioners still can scarcely bear to blame, but who in his 
best days could only be spoken of with affectionate pity ; a 
man whose habitual respect for his own position made him 
" always himself," in the pulpit — a quaint and melancholy dis- 
tinction — and who never would tolerate the sound of an oath 
even when constantly frequenting places where oaths were 
very usual embellishments of conversation. Religion had little 
active existence in the place, as may be supposed ; but the de- 
corum which preserved the minister's Sundays in unimpeachable 
sobriety kept up throughout the community a certain religious 



TRADITIONS OF THE DISTRICT. 

habit, the legacy of a purer generation. Household psalms 
still echoed of nights through the closed windows, and children, 
brought up among few other signs of piety, were yet trained 
in the habit of family prayers. This was almost all the reli- 
gion which existed in Puritan Scotland in these eventful French 
[Revolution days ; and even this was owing more to the special 
traditions of the soil in such a region as Annandale, than to 
any deeper impulse of faith. 

For outside this comfortable prosaic world was a world of 
imagination and poetry, never to be dissevered from that bor- 
der country. Strange difference of a few centuries ! The An- 
nandale droves went peaceably to the Southern market, past 
many a naked peelhouse and austere tower of defence on both 
sides of the border ; but the country, watched and guarded by 
these old apparitions, had not forgotten the moss-troopers : 
and far more clearly and strongly, with vision scarcely suffi- 
ciently removed from the period even to be impartial, the dis- 
trict which held the Stones of Irongray, and enclosed many a 
Covenanter's grave, remembered that desperate fever and 
frenzy of persecution through which the Kirk had once fought 
her way. I recollect, at a distance of a great many years, the 
energy with which a woman-servant from that countryside told 
tales of the " Lag," who is the Claverhouse of the border, till 
the imagination of a nursery, far removed from the spot, fixed 
upon him, in defiance of all nearer claims, as the favourite 
horror, — the weird, accursed spirit whom young imaginations, 
primitive and unsentimental, have no compunctions about deli- 
vering over to Satan. This old world of adventurous romance 
and martyr legend thrilled and palpitated around the villages 
of Annandale. The educated people in the town, the writer or 
the doctor, or possibly the minister, all the men who were 
wiser than their neighbours, might perhaps entertain enlight- 
ened views touching those Covenanter fanatics whom enlight- 
ened persons are not supposed to entertain much sympathy 
with ; but in the tales of the ingleside — in the narratives heard 
by the red glow of the great kitchen fire, or in the farm-house 
chimney corner — enlightened views were out of court, and the 
home-spun martyrs of the soil were absolute masters of all 
hearts and suffrages. And perhaps few people out of the reach 
of such an influence, can comprehend the effect which is pro- 
duced upon the ardent, young, inexperienced imagination by 
those familiar tales of torture endured, and death accomplished, 
by men bearing the very names of the listeners, and whose agony 
and triumph have occurred in places of which every nook and 
corner is familiar to their eyes. The impression made is such 



6 BIRTH OF EDWARD. 

as nothing after can ever efface or obliterate ; and it has the 
effect — an effect I confess not very easily explainable to those 
who have not experienced it — of weaving round the bald ser- 
vices of the Scotch Church a charm of imagination more en- 
trancing and visionary than the highest poetic ritual could com- 
mand, and of connecting her absolute canons and unpicturesque 
economy with the highest epic and romance of national faith. 
Perhaps this warm recollection of her martyrs, and of that fer- 
vent devotion which alone can make martyrs possible, has done 
more to neutralise the hard common sense of the country, 
and to preserve the Scotch Church from over-legislating her- 
self into decrepitude, than any other influence. "We too, like 
every other Church and race, have our legends of the Saints, 
and make such use of them in the depths of our reserve and 
national reticence as few strangers guess or could conceive. 

It was in this community that Edward Irving received his 
first impressions. He was born on the 4th of August, 1792, 
in a little house near the old town-cross of Annan. There he 
was laid in his wooden cradle, to watch with unconscious eyes 
the light coming in at the low, long window of his mother's 
narrow bedchamber ; or rather, according to the ingenious hy- 
pothesis of a medical friend of his own, to lie exercising one 
eye upon that light, and intensifying into that one eye, by 
way of emphatic unconscious prophecy of the future habit of 
his soul, all his baby power of vision — a power which the 
other eye, hopelessly obscured by the wooden side of the cradle, 
was then unable to use, and never after regained ; an explana- 
tion of the vulgar obliquity called a squint, which I venture to 
recommend to all unprejudiced readers. The stairs which led 
to Mrs Irving' s bedchamber ascended through the kitchen, a 
cheerful, well-sized apartment as such houses go ; and in the 
other end of the house, next to the kitchen, was the parlour, a 
small, inconceivably small room, in which to rear a family of 
eight stalwart sons and daughters, and to exercise all the hos- 
pitalities required by that sociable little community. But 
society in Annan was evidently as indifferent to a mere matter 
of- space as society in a more advanced development. The 
tanner's yard was opposite the house, across the little street. 
There he lived in the full exercise of his unsavoury occupation, 
with his children growing up around him ; a quiet man, chiefly 
visible as upholding the somewhat severe discipline of the 
schoolmaster against the less austere virtue of the mother, 
who, handsome and energetic, was the ruling spirit of the 
house. It is from Mrs Irving that her family seem to have 
taken that somewhat solemn and dark type of beauty which, 



PEGGY PAINE S SCHOOL. 7 

marred only by the intervention of the wooden cradle, be- 
came famous in the person of her illustrious son. I do not 
say that she realized the ordinary popular notion about the 
mothers of great men ; but it is apparent that she was great 
in all that sweet personal health, force, and energy which dis- 
tinguished her generation of Scottish women ; and which, per- 
haps, with the shrewdness and characteristic individuality 
which accompany it, is of more importance to the race and na- 
tion than any degree of mere intellect. " Evangelicalism," 
said Edward Irving, long after, " has spoiled both the minds 
and bodies of the women of Scotland — there are no women 
now like my mother." The devotedest evangelical believer 
might forgive the son for that fond and filial saying. It is 
clear that no conventional manner of speech, thought, or bar- 
rier of ecclesiastical proprieties unknown to nature, had limited 
the mother of those eight Irvings, whom she brought up ac- 
cordingly in all the freedom of a life almost rural, yet amid all 
the warm and kindly influences of a community of friends. To 
be born in such a place and such a house, was to come into the 
world entitled to the familiar knowledge and affection of " all 
the town" — a fact which may be quaintly apprehended in the 
present Annan, by the number of nameless quiet old people, 
who, half admiring and half incredulous of the fame of their old 
school-fellow, brighten up into vague talk of" Edward" when 
a stranger names his name. 

The first appearance which Edward Irving made out of this 
house with its wooden cradle, was at a little school, preparatory 
to more serious education, kept by " Peggy Paine," a relation 
of the unfortunate tailor-sceptic who in those days was in un- 
easy quarters in Paris, in the midst of the revolution. An old 
woman, now settled for her old age in her native town, who 
had in after years encountered her great townsman in London, 
and remaining loyally faithful to his teaching all her life, is 
now, I suppose, the sole representative in Annan of the reli- 
gious body commonly called by his name, remembers in those 
old vernal days how Edward helped her to learn her' letters, 
and how they two stammered into their first syllables over the 
same book in Peggy Paine's little school. This was the be- 
ginning of a long friendship, as singular as it is touching, and 
which may here be followed through its simple course. When 
Edward, long after, was the most celebrated preacher of his 
day, and Hannah, the Annan girl whom he had helped to learn 
her letters, was also in London, a servant struggling in her 
own sphere through the troubles of that stormier world, her 
old school-fellow stretched out his cordial hand to her, without 



8 



HANNAH DOUGLAS. 



a moment's shrinking from the work in which her hand was 
engaged. It was natural that all the world about her should 
soon know of that friendship. And Hannah's " family " were 
ambitious, like everybody else, of the acquaintance of the hero 
of the day. He was too much sought to be easily accessible, 
till the master and mistress bethought themselves of the inter- 
cession of their maid, and sent her with their invitation to 
back it by her prayers. The result was a triumph for Hannah. 
Irving gratified the good people by going to dine with them 
for his school-fellow's sake. I am not aware that anything 
romantic or remarkable came of the introduction so accom- 
plished, as perhaps ought to have happened to make the inci- 
dent poetically complete ; but I cannot help regarding it as 
one of the pleasantest of anecdotes. Hannah lives at Annan, 
an old woman, pensioned by the grateful representative of the 
family whom she had faithfully served, and tells with tears 
this story of her friend ; and stands a homely, solitary pillar, 
the representative of the " Catholic Apostolic Church " in the 
place which gave its most distinguished member birth. 

The next stage of Edward's education was greatly in ad- 
vance of Peggy Paine. Schoolmasters must have been either 
a more remarkable race of men in those days, or the smaller 
number of them must have enhanced their claim upon popular 
appreciation. At least it was no uncommon matter for the 
parishes and little towns of Scotland to fix with pride upon 
their schoolmaster as the greatest boast of their district. Such 
was the case with Mr Adam Hope, who taught the young 
Irvings, and after them a certain Thomas Carlyle from Eccle- 
fechan, with other not undistinguished men. There were 
peculiarities in that system of education. People below the 
rank of gentry did not think of sending their daughters to 
what were called boarding-schools ; or at least were subject to 
much derisive remark if they ventured on such an open evi- 
dence of ambition. The female schools in existence were 
distinctively sewing schools, and did not pretend to do much 
for the intellect ; so that boys and girls trooped in together, 
alike to the parish-school and the superior academy, sat toge- 
ther on the same forms, stood together in the same classes, 
and not unfrequently entered into tough combats for prizes 
and distinctions, whimsical enough to hear of now-a-days. Of 
this description was the Annan Academy, at which Edward 
does not appear to have taken any remarkable position. He does 
not seem even to have attained the distinction of one of those 
dunces of genius who are not unknown to literature. Under 
the severe discipline of those days he sometimes came home 



OUT-DOOR EDUCATION. V 

from school with his ears " pinched until they bled," to his 
mother's natural resentment ; but found no solace to his 
wounded feelings and members from his father, who sided 
with the master, and does not seem to have feared the effect 
of such trifles upon the sturdy boys, who were all destined to 
fight their way upward by the brain rather than the hands. 
The only real glimpse which is to be obtained of Edward in 
his school days discloses the mournful picture of a boy "kept in," 
and comforted in the ignominious solitude of the school-room 
by having his "piece" hoisted up to him by a cord through 
a broken window. However, he showed some liking for one 
branch of education, that of mathematics, in which he after- 
wards distinguished himself. It was the practice in Annan to 
devote one day of the week specially to mathematical lessons, 
an exceptional day, which the boys hailed as a kind of holiday. 
The little town, however, was not destitute of classical 
ambition. Tradition tells of a certain Blind John who had 
picked up a knowledge of Latin in the parish school, chiefly 
from hearing the lessons of other boys there ; and had struggled 
somehow to such a height of latinity that his teaching and his 
pupils were renowned as far as Edinburgh, where awful pro- 
fessors did not scorn to acknowledge his attainments. It is 
probable that Edward did not study under this unauthorized 
instructor ; and the orthodox prelections of the Academy did 
not develope the literary inclinations of the athletic boy, who 
found more engrossing interests in every glen and hillside. 
Eor nothing was wanting to the perfection of his education 
out of doors. There were hills to climb, a river close at hand, 
a hospitable and friendly country to be explored ; and the 
miniature port at the "Waterfoot, where impetuous Sol way 
bathed with tawny salt waves the little pier, and boats that 
tempted forth the adventurous boyhood of Annan. Early in 
Edward's life he became distinguished for feats of swimming, 
walking, rowing, climbing, all sorts of open-air exercises. The 
main current of his energy flowed out in this direction, and 
not in that of books. His scattered kindred gave full occasion for 
long walks and such local knowledge as adventurous school-boys 
delight in ; and when he and his companions went to Dornoch, 
to his mother's early home, where his uncles still lived, it was 
Edward's amusement, says a surviving relative, to leap all the 
gates in the way. This fact survives all the speculations that 
may have been in the boy's brain on that rural, thoughtful 
road. His thoughts, if he had any, dispersed into the listening 
air and left no sign ; but there can be no mistake about the 
leaping of the gates. 



10 SOLWAY SANDS. 

In this early period of his life he is said to have met with 
an adventure, sufficiently picturesque and important to be 
recorded. Every one who knows the Solway is aware of the 
peculiarities of that singular estuary. When the tide is full, a 
nobler firth is not to be seen than this brimming flood of green 
sea-water, with Skiddaw glooming on the other side over the 
softer slopes of Cumberland, and Criffel standing sentinel on 
this, upon the Scotch sea-border ; but when the tide is out, 
woeful and lamentable is the change. Solway, shrunk to a 
tithe of its size, meanders, gleaming through vast banks of 
sand, leaving here and there a little desert standing bare in the 
very midst of its channel, covered with stake-nets which raise 
their heads in the strangest, unexpected way, upon a spot where 
vessels of considerable burden might have passed not many 
hours before. The firth, indeed, is so reduced in size by the 
ebbing of the tide, that it is possible to ride, or even to drive a 
cart across from one side to the other ; a feat, indeed, which is 
daily accomplished, and which might furnish a little variation 
upon the ancient romantic routine of Gretna Green, as the 
ferryman at the Brough was in former times equally qualified 
with the blacksmith at the border toll, and not without much 
patronage, though his clients were humbler fugitives. "When, 
however, Solway sets about his daily and nightly reflow, he does 
it with a rush and impetuosity worthy of the space he has to fill, 
and is a dangerous playfellow when " at the turn." One day 
while they were still children, John and Edward Irving are 
said to have strayed down upon these great sands, with the 
original intention of meeting their uncle, Greorge Lowther, who 
was expected to cross Solway at the ebb, on his way to Annan. 
The scene was specially charming in its wild solitude and free- 
dom. In that wilderness of sand and shingle, with its gleam- 
ing salt-water pools clear as so many mirrors, full of curious 
creatures still unknown to drawing-room science, but not to 
school-boy observation, the boys presently forgot all about their 
immediate errand, and, absorbed in their own amusement, 
thought neither of their uncle nor of the rising tide. While 
thus occupied, a horseman suddenly came up to them at full 
gallop, seized first one and then the other of the astonished 
boys, and throwing them across the neck of his horse, galloped 
on without pausing to address a word to them, or even per- 
ceiving who they were. When they had safely reached the 
higher shingly bank, out of reach of the pursuing tide, he drew 
bridle at last, and pointed back breathless to where he had 
found them. The startled children, perceiving the danger they 
had escaped, saw the tawny waves pursuing almost to where 



; 



EARLY CHARACTERISTICS. 11 

they stood, and the sands on which they had been playing buried 
far under that impetuous sea ; and it was only then that the happy 
Hercules-uncle discovered that it was his sister's sons whom he 
had saved. Had Greorge Lowther been ten minutes later, one of 
the noblest tragic chapters of individual life in the nineteenth cen- 
tury need never have been written ; and his native seas, less bitter 
than the sea of life that swallowed him up at last, would have 
received the undeveloped fortunes of the blameless Annan boy. 

Another momentary incident, much less picturesque and 
momentous, yet characteristic enough, disperses for the mi- 
nutest point of time the mists of sixty years, and shows us two 
urgent childish petitioners, Edward with his little brother 
George, at the door of a neighbour's house in Annan, where 
there was a party, at which Mrs Irving was one of the guests. 
Edward was so pertinacious in his determination to see his 
mother, that the circumstance impressed itself upon the me- 
mory of one of the children of the house. Mrs Irving at last 
went to the door to speak to her children, probably apprehen- 
sive of some domestic accident ; but found that the occasion of 
all this urgency was Edward's anxiety to be permitted to give 
some of his own linen to a sick lad who was in special want of 
it. The permission was given, the boys plunged joyful back 
into the darkness, and the mother returned to her party, where, 
doubtless, she told the tale with such pretended censure as 
mothers use. Momentary and slight as the incident is, it is 
still appropriate to the early history of one who in his after 
days could never give enough to whosoever lacked. 

Even at this early period of his existence, it has been said 
that Irving was prematurely solemn and remarkable in his 
manners, "making it apparent that he was not a child as 
others," and having "a significant elevation of manners and 
choice of pleasures.' ' I can find no traces of any such precocity ; 
nor is it easy to fancy how a natural boy, in such a shrewd and 
humorous community, where pomp of any kind would have 
been speedily laughed out of him, could have shown any such 
singularity. Nor was he ever in the slightest degree of that 
abstract and self-absorbed fashion of mind which makes a child 
remarkable. He seems, however, to have sought, and got access 
to, a certain kind of society which, though perhaps odd enough 
for a school-boy, was such as all children of lively mind and 
generous sympathies love. At this early period of his life it 
was his occasional habit to walk five or six miles to the little 
village of Ecclefechan, in company with a pilgrim band of the 
religious patriarchs of Annan, to attend a little church estab- 
lished there by one of the earlier bodies of seceders from the 



12 



THE "WHIGS/ 



Church of Scotland ; an act which has been attributed to his 
dissatisfaction with the preaching and character of the Annan 
minister, already referred to, and his precocious appreciation of 
sound doctrine and fervent piety. The fact is doubtless true 
enough ; but I think it very unlikely that any premature love 
for sermons or discrimination of their quality was the cause. 
Scotch dissenters, in their earlier development at least, were 
all doubly Presbyterian. The very ground of their dissent wa3 
not any widening out of doctrine or alteration of Church govern- 
ment, but only a re-assertion and closer return to the primitive 
principles of the Kirk itself — a fact which popular discrimina- 
tion in the south of Scotland acknowledged by referring back 
to the unforgotten " persecuting times " for a name, and enti- 
tling the seceders " Whigs " — a name which they retained until 
very recent days in those simple-minded districts. The pious 
people who either originated or gladly took advantage of such 
humble attempts to recall the Church to herself, and bring 
back religion to a covenanted but unfaithful country, were thus 
identified with the saints and martyrs of whom the whole 
countryside was eloquent. They were, as was natural, the 
gravest class of the community ; men who vexed their righteous 
souls day by day over the shortcomings of the minister and the 
worldly -mindedness of the people ; and proved their covenant- 
ing lineage by piety of an heroic, austere pitch beyond the level 
of their neighbours. 

Young Edward Irving had already made his way, as most 
imaginative children manage to do, into the confidence of the 
old people who knew and were not reluctant to tell the epics 
of their native districts ; and those epics were all covenanting 
tales — tragedies abrupt and forcible, or lingering, long-drawn 
narratives, more fascinating still, in which all human motives, 
hopes, and ambitions were lost in the one all-engrossing object 
of existence, the preservation and confession of the truth. 
"With glowing, youthful cheeks, fresh from the moor or the 
frith, the boy penetrated into the cottage fireside, where the 
fragrant peat threw its crimson glow through the apartment, 
and the old man or the old woman, in the leisure of their age, 
sat in the great high-backed chair with its checked linen cover ; 
and with a curiosity still more wistful and eager, as though 
about to see those triumphs of faith repeated, trudged forth in 
the summer Sunday afternoons, unbonneted, with his black 
locks ruffling in the wind and his cap in his hand, amid the 
little band of patriarchs, through hedgerows fragrant with every 
succession of blossom, to where the low grey hills closed in 
around that little hamlet of Ecclefechan, Ecclesia Fechani, for- 



ECCLEFECHAN. 13 

gotten shrine of some immemorial Celtic saint ; a scene not 
grandly picturesque, but full of a sweet pastoral freedom and 
solitude ; the hills rising grey against the sky, with slopes of 
springy turf where the sheep pastured, and shepherds of an 
antique type pondered the ways of Grod with men : the road 
crossed at many a point, and sometimes accompanied, by tiny 
brooklets, too small to claim a separate name, tinkling unseen 
among the grass and underwood, to join some bigger but still 
tiny tributary of the Annan, streams which had no pretensions 
to be rivers, but were only "waters " like Annan "Water itself. 
To me this country gleams with a perpetual youth ; the hills 
rise clear and wistful through the sharp air, this with its Roman 
camp indented on its side, that with its melancholy Eepentance 
Tower standing out upon the height ; the moor brightens forth 
as one approaches into sweet brakes of heather and golden 
clumps of gorse ; the burns sing in a never-failing liquid cheer- 
fulness through all their invisible courses ; freedom, breadth, 
silence, touched with all those delicious noises : the quiet ham- 
lets and cottages breathing forth that aromatic betrayal of all 
their warm turf fires. Place in this landscape that grave group 
upon the way, bending their steps to the rude meeting-house in 
which their austere worship was to be celebrated, holding dis- 
course as they approached upon subjects not so much of re- 
ligious feeling as of high metaphysical theology ; with the boy 
among them, curiously attracted by their talk, timing his elastic 
footsteps to their heavy tread, making his unconscious com- 
ments, a wonderful impersonation of perennial youth and 
genius, half leading, half following, always specially impressed 
by the grey fathers of that world which dawns all fresh and 
dewy upon his own vision ; and I cannot fancy a better picture 
of old Scotland as it was in its most characteristic districts and 
individual phase. 

This seems the only foundation from which precocious 
seriousness can be inferred, and it is an important and inter- 
esting feature of his boyhood. The "Whig elders no doubt 
unconsciously prepared the germs of that old-world stateliness 
of speech and dignity of manner which afterwards distinguished 
their pupil ; and they, and the traditions to which they had 
served themselves heirs, made all the higher element and 
poetry of life which was to be found in Annan. Their in- 
fluence, however, did not withdraw him from the society of his 
fellows. The social instinct was at all times too strong in him 
to be prevented from making friends wherever he found com- 
panions. His attachment to his natural comrade, his brother 
John, is touchingly proved by the fact we have already noted ; 



14 STRANGE DISPERSION. 

and another boyish friendship, formed with Hugh Clapperton, 
the African traveller, who was, like himself, a native of Annan, 
concluded only with the death of that intrepid explorer. 
Young Clapperton lived in an adjoining house which was the 
property of G-avin Irving, and the same "yard" with its elm 
trees was common to both the families. The boys sometimes 
shared their meals, and often the fireside corner, where they 
learned their lessons ; and the adventurous instinct of young 
Clapperton evidently had no small influence upon the dreams, 
at least, of his younger companion. Of these three boys, so 
vigorous, bold, and daring, not one lived to be old ; and their 
destinies are a singular proof of the wide diffusion of life and 
energy circling out from one of the most obscure spots in the 
country. One was to die in India, uncommemorated except 
by love ; one in Africa, a hero (or victim) of that dread science 
which makes stepping-stones of men's lives ; the third, at a 
greater distance still from that boyish chimney-corner, at the 
height of fame, genius, and sorrow, was to die, a sign and 
wonder, like other prophets before him. It is sad to connect 
the conclusion with a beginning which bore little foreboding 
of such tragic elements. But it is scarcely possible to note 
the boyish conclave without thinking of the singular fortunes 
and far separation to which they were destined. The friend- 
ship that commenced thus was renewed when Clapperton 
and Irving met in London, both famous men ; and the last 
communication sent to England by the dying traveller was 
addressed to his early friend. 

The little town was at this period in a prosperous con- 
dition, and thriving well. When war quickened the traffic in 
provisions, and increased their value, Annan exported corn as 
well as droves. But the industry of the population was 
leisurely and old-fashioned, much unlike the modern type. 
Many of the poorer folk about were salmon-fishers, but had 
no such market for their wares as now-a-days, when salmon in 
Annan is about as dear, and rather more difficult to be had, 
than salmon in Loudon. "When there had been a good " take," 
the fishermen lounged about the Cross, or amused themselves 
in their gardens, till that windfall was spent and exhausted, 
very much as if they had been mere Celtic fishermen instead 
of cautious Scots ; and the slow gains of the careful burgesses 
came more from economy than enterprise. Gavin Irving, 
however, made progress in his tanner's yard ; he became one 
of the magistrates of Annan, whose principal duty it was to 
go to church in state, and set an official example of well-doing. 
Tradition does not say whether his son's passion for the WhigSj 



HIS COLLEGE LIFE. 15 

and expeditions to the Seceders' meeting-house at Ecclefechan, 
brought any "persecution" upon the boy; so it is probable 
those heterodox preachings were attended only in summer 
evenings, and on special occasions, when Annan kirk was 
closed. There were clerical relations on both sides of the 
house scattered through Dumfriesshire, to whom the boys seem 
to have paid occasional visits ; one of them, Dr Bryce John- 
stone, of Holy wood, an uncle of Mrs Irving' s, being a notable 
person among his brethren ; but, further than the familiarity 
which this gave with the surrounding country, no special 
traces of the advantages of such intercourse exist. The loftier 
aspect of religion was in the Whig cottages, and not in those 
cosy manses to which Dr Carlyle, of Inveresk, has lately in- 
troduced all readers. 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS COLLEGE LIFE. 



At thirteen Irving began his studies at the Edinburgh 
University : such was, and is still, to a great extent, the custom 
of Scotch universities, — a habit which, like every other edu- 
cational habit in Scotland, promotes the diffusion of a little 
learning, and all the practical uses of knowledge, but makes 
the profounder depths of scholarship almost impossible. It was 
nearly universal in those days, and no doubt partly originated 
in the very long course of study demanded by the Church 
(always so influential in Scotland, and acting upon the habits 
even of those who are not devoted to her service), from ap- 
plicants for the ministry. This lengthened proce m of education 
cannot be better described than in the words used by Irving 
himself, at a much later period of his life, and used with 
natural pride, as setting forth what his beloved Church required 
of her neophytes. " In respect to the ministers," he says, 
" this is required of them, — that they should have studied for 
four years in a university all the branches of a classical and 
philosophical education ; and either taken the rank in literature 
of a Master of Arts, or come out from the university with 
certificates of their proficiency in the classics, in mathematics, 
in logic, and in natural and moral philosophy. They are then, 
and not till then, permitted to enter upon the study of 



16 PROLONGED PROBATION OF SCOTCH MINISTERS. 

theology, of which the professors are ordained ministers of 
the Church, chosen to their office. Under separate professors 
they study theology, Hebrew, and ecclesiastical history, for 
four years, attending from four to six months in each year. 
Thus eight years are consumed in study." This is, perhaps, 
the only excuse which can be made for sending boys, still 
little more than children, into what ought to be the higher 
labours of a university. Even beginning at such an age, the 
full course of study exacted from a youth in training for the 
Church could not be completed till he had reached his twenty- 
first year, when all the repeated " trials " of the Presbytery 
had still to follow before he could enter upon his vocation ; an 
apparent and comprehensible reason, if not excuse, for a 
custom which, according to the bitter complaints of its victims, 
turns the university into a kind of superior grammar school. ' 
At thirteen, accordingly, Edward, accompanied by his elder 
brother John, who was destined for the medical profession, 
came to Edinburgh under the charge of some relatives of their 
Annan school-fellow, Hugh Clapperton ; and the two lads were 
deposited in a lofty chamber in the old town, near the college, to 
pursue their studies with such diligence as was in them. Even 
to such youthful sons the Edinburgh University has no per- 
sonal shelter to offer : then, as now, the Alma Mater was a 
mere abstract mass of class-rooms, museums, and libraries, and 
the youths or boys who sought instruction there were left in 
absolute freedom to their own devices. Perhaps the youths 
thus launched upon the w T orld were too young to take much 
harm ; or perhaps that early necessity of self-regulation, im- 
posed under different and harder circumstances than those 
which have brought the English public schools into such fresh 
repute and popularity, bore all the fruit which it is now hoped 
and believed to produce. But whatever may be the virtues 
of self-government, it is impossible to contemplate without a 
singular interest and amaze, the spectacle of these two boys, 
one thirteen, the other, probably, about fifteen, placed alone 
in their little lodging in the picturesque but noisy old town 
of Edinburgh, for six long months at a stretch, to manage 
themselves and their education, without tutors, without home 
care, without any stimulus but that to be received in the 
emulation of the class-room, or from their books and their 
own ambition. These circumstances, however, were by no 
means remarkable or out of the common course of things ; and 
the surprise with which we look back to so strange a picture 
of boyish life would not have been shared by the contemporary 
spectators who saw the south-country boys coming and going 



INDEPENDENCE. 17 

to college without perceiving anything out of the way in it. 
The manner in which the little establishment was kept up is 
wonderfully primitive to hear of at so short a distance from 
our sophisticated times. Now and then the lads received a box 
from home, sent by the carrier, or by some " private oppor- 
tunity," full of oatmeal, cheese, and other homely necessities, 
and doubtless not without lighter embellishments to prove the 
mother's care for her boys. Probably their linen was conveyed 
back and forward to the home-laundry by the same means ; so 
that the money expense of the tiny establishment, with its 
porridge thus provided, and its home relishes of ham and 
cheese, making the school-boy board festive, must have been of 
the most limited amount. Altogether it is a quaint little pic- 
ture of the patriarchal life, now departed for ever. No private 
opportunities now-a-days carry such boxes ; and those very 
railways, which make the merest village next neighbour to all 
the world, have made an end of those direct primitive com- 
munications from the family table to its absent members. Nor 
is it easy to believe that boys of thirteen, living in lonely inde- 
pendence in Edinburgh, where the very streets are seducing 
and full of fascinations, and where every gleam of sunshine 
on the hills, and flash of reflection from the visible Firth, must 
draw youthful thoughts away from the steep gradus of a 
learning not hitherto found particularly attractive, could live 
within those strait and narrow limits and bear such a probation. 
But times were harder and simpler in the first twenty years 
of the century. Scotland was a hundred times more Scotch, 
more individual, more separate from its wealthier yoke-fellow 
than now. No greater contrast to the life of undergraduates 
in an ancient English university, could be imagined, than that 
presented by those boy-students in their lofty chamber, de- 
tached from all collegiate associations, living in the midst of a 
working-day population, utterly unimpressed by the neigh- 
bourhood of a university, and interpolating the homely youth- 
ful idyll of their existence into the noisy, bustling, scolding, 
not over-savoury life of that old town of Edinburgh. Even 
such a vestige of academical dress as is to be found in the 
quaint red gown of Glasgow is unknown to the rigid Pro- 
testantism of the Scotch metropolis. The boys came and 
went, undistinguished, in their country caps and jackets, 
through streets, which, full of character as they are, suggest 
nothing so little as the presence of a college, and returned to 
their studies in their little room, with neither tutor nor as- 
sistant to help them through their difficulties, and lived a life 
of unconscious austerity, in which they themselves did not per- 

2 



18 HARD TRAINING. 

ceive either the poverty or the hardship ; which, indeed, it is 
probable they themselves, and all belonging to them, would 
have been equally amazed and indignant to have heard either 
hardship or poverty attributed to. Crowds of other lads, 
from all parts of Scotland, lived a similar life ; the homely 
fare and spare accommodation, the unassisted studies ; and in 
most cases, as soon as that was practicable, personal exertions 
as teachers or otherwise, to help in the expense of their own 
education, looked almost a natural and inevitable beginning to 
the life they were to lead. 

By such methods of instruction few men are trained to 
pursue and love learning for learning's sake ; but only by such 
a Spartan method of training the young soldiers of the future, 
could the Annan tanner, with eight children to provide for, 
have given all his sons an education qualifying them for pro- 
fessional life and future advancement. 

The Edinburgh " Session " lasts only from November till 
May ; leaving the whole summer free for the recreation, or, 
more probably, the labours of the self-supporting students. 
Indeed, the whole system seems based upon the necessity of 
allowing time for the intervening work which is to provide 
means for the studies that follow. "When the happy time of 
release arrived, our Annan boys sent off their boxes with the 
carrier, and, all joyful and vigorous, set out walking upon the 
homeward road. In after years Irving delighted in pedestrian 
journeys ; and it was most probably in those early walks that 
he learned, what was his habitual practice afterwards, to rest 
in the wayside cottages, and share the potato or the porridge 
to be found there. The habit of universal friendliness thus 
engendered did him good service afterwards — for a man accus- 
tomed to such kindly relations with the poorest of his neigh- 
bours, does not need any other training to that frank uncon- 
descending courtesy which is so dear to the poor. " Edward 
walked as the crow flies," says one of his surviving relatives 
who has accompanied those walks when time was. Such an 
eccentric, joyful, straightforward progress must have been 
specially refreshing to the school-boy students, hastening to all 
the delights of home and country freedom. 

"Whether Irving' s progress during this period was beyond 
that of his contemporaries there is no evidence ; but he suc- 
ceeded sufficiently well to take his degree in April, 1809, when 
he was just seventeen, and to attract the friendly regard of 
Professor Christison, and of the distinguished and eccentric 
Sir John Leslie, then Mathematical Professor in the Edinburgh 
University ; both of whom interested themselves in his behalf 






EARLY READING. 19 

as soon as he began his own independent career. So far as 
the library records go, he does not seem to have been an extra- 
ordinarily diligent student. There is a story told, which I have 
not been able to trace to any authentic source, of his having 
found in a farm-house, in the neighbourhood of Annan, a copy 
of Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, which is said to have power- 
fully attracted him, and given an impulse to his thoughts. 
He is also said to have expended almost the whole sum which 
he had received for the expenses of a journey in the purchase 
of Hooker's works, " together with some odd folios of the Fa- 
thers, Homer, and Newton," and to have trudged forward 
afoot with the additional load upon his stalwart shoulders, in 
great delight with his acquisition. There can be no doubt, 
at least, of his own reference to "the venerable companion of 
my early days — Bichard Hooker." In opposition to this se- 
rious reading stand the Arabian Nights, and sundry books 
with forgotten but suspicious titles, which appear against his 
name in those early times in the college library books — most 
natural and laudable reading for a boy, but curiously inappro- 
priate as drawn from the library of his college. ■■" He used to 
carry continually in his waistcoat pocket," says one of his few 
surviving college companions, the Rev. Dr Grierson, of Errol, 
" a miniature copy of Ossian ; passages from which he read or 
recited in his walks in the country, or delivered with sonorous 
elocution and vehement gesticulation " for the benefit of his 
companions. This is the first indication I can find of his ora- 
torical gifts, and that natural magniloquence of style which 
belonged equally to his mind and person. 

Among all Irving's fellow-students, there are no names which 
have attained more than local celebrity, except that of Thomas 
Carlyle, whose fame has overtopped and outlasted that of his 
early friend; and Carlyle did not share the studies of the 
four first years of his college life. He stands alone among men 
who subsided into parishes, and chaplaincies, and educational 
chairs ; but who were his equals, or more than his equals, in 
those days — without any connection with, or means of approach 
to, that splendid circle which, one would imagine, concentrated 
within so limited a sphere as that of Edinburgh, must have 
found out by magnetic attraction every light of genius within 
its bounds. But the ecclesiastical flats in which the youth 
stood, together with his humble origin, more than counter- 
acted that magnetism. If the Church everywhere never fails 
to be reminded that her kingdom is not of this world, that re- 
minder is specially thrust upon her in Scotland, where it is a 
principle of the creed of both ministers and people to believe 



20 

that even the payment in kind of applause and honour, which 
is gained in every other profession, is a sinful indulgence to a 
preacher ; and where demands are made upon his time and pa- 
tience far too engrossing to admit the claims of society. Irving 
went on in his early career far down in the shade of common 
life, out of reach of those lights which, to the next generation, 
illuminate the entire sphere — and grew from a boy to a young 
man, and took his boyish share in the college debating societies, 
and made his way among other nameless youths with no great 
mark of difference, so far as it appears. Dr Christison, the 
Humanity professor, noted him with a friendly eye ; and odd, 
clumsy, kindly Leslie observed the fervour of the tall lad, and 
took him for a future prop of science. A younger fellow-stu- 
dent records simply how Irving, being more advanced than he, 
helped him on with his studies, according to that instinct of 
his nature which never forsook him. And he read Ossian, and 
argued, in defunct Philomathic societies, where he and other 
people fancied he met equal opponents ; till it became neces- 
sary for him, seventeen years old, and a graduate of Edinburgh 
University, to begin to help himself onwards, during the tedi- 
ous intervals of his professional training. 

He did this, as all Scotch clerical students do, by teaching. 
A new school, called the Mathematical School, by some strange 
caprice, — since it seems to have been exactly like other schools, 
— had just been established in Haddington ; and by the recom- 
mendation of Sir John Leslie and of Professor Christison, Irving 
got the appointment. It was in the spring of 1810, after one 
session, as it is called, in the " Divinity Hall," and at the age 
of eighteen, that he entered upon this situation. To some- 
where about the same period must belong the description given 
of him in Carlyle's wonderful " Eloge." " The first time I saw 
Irving was in his native town of Annan. He was fresh from 
Edinburgh, with college prizes, high character and promise : 
he had come to see our schoolmaster, who had also been his. 
"We heard of famed professors, of high matters classical, ma- 
thematical, a whole wonderland of knowledge; nothing but 
joy, health, hopefulness without end looked out from the 
blooming young man." 

Another spectator of more prosaic vision declares him to 
have been "rather a showy young man" — a tendency always 
held in abhorrence by the sober Scotch imagination, which 
above all things admires the gift of reticence ; or even, in de- 
fault of better, that pride which takes the place of modesty. 
Irving, utterly ingenuous and open, always seeking love, and 
the approbation of love, and doubting no man, did not possess 



EARLY LABOURS. 21 

this quality. "The blooming young man" went back to the 
school in which he was once kept in and punished, with can- 
did, joyful self-demonstration, captivating the eyes which 
could see, and amusing those which had not that faculty. It 
was his farewell to his boyish, happy, dependent life. 

And it was also the conclusion of his University education 
so far as reality went. For four or five years thereafter he was 
what is called a partial student of Divinity, matriculating 
regularly, and making his appearance in college to go through 
the necessary examinations, and deliver the prescribed dis- 
courses ; but carrying on his intermediate studies by himself, 
according to a license permitted by the Church. His Had- 
dington appointment removed him definitely from home and 
its homely provisions, and gave him an early outset for himself 
into the business and labours of independent life. So far 
from being a hardship, or matter to be lamented, it was the 
best thing his friends could have wished for him. Such inter- 
ruptions in the course of professional education were all but 
universal in Scotland ; and he went under the best auspices 
and with the highest hopes. 



CHAPTEB III. 

HADDINGTON. 

Irving entered upon this second chapter of his youthful 
life in the summer of 1810. He was then in his eighteenth 
year — still young enough, certainly, for the charge committed 
to him. Education was at a very low ebb in Haddington, 
which had not even a parish school to boast of, but was lost 
among "borough " regulations, and in the pottering hands of 
a little corporation. The rising tide, however, stirred a faint 
ripple in this quiet place ; and the consequence was, the estab- 
lishment of that school called the mathematical, to which came 
groups of lads not very much younger than the young teacher, 
who had been stupefied for years in such schools as did exist ; 
and some of whom woke up like magic under the touch of the 
boy student, so little older than themselves. Coming to the 
little town under these circumstances, recommended as a dis- 
tinguished student by a man of such eminence as Sir John 
Leslie, the young man had a favourable reception in his new 



22 the doctor's little daughter. 

sphere. " When Irving first came to Haddington," writes one 
of his pupils, " he was a tall, ruddy, robust, handsome youth, 
cheerful and kindly disposed ; he soon won the confidence of 
his advanced pupils, and was admitted into the best society in 
the town and neighbourhood." Into one house, at least, he 
went with a more genial introduction, and under circumstances 
equally interesting and amusing. This was the house of Dr 
"Welsh, the principal medical man of the district, whose family 
consisted of one little daughter, for whose training he enter- 
tained more ambitious views than little girls are generally the 
subjects of. This little girl, however, was as unique in mind as 
in circumstances. She heard, with eager childish wonder, a pe- 
rennial discussion carried on between her father and mother 
about her education ; both were naturally anxious to secure the 
special sympathy and companionship of their only child. The 
doctor, recovering from his disappointment that she was a girl, 
was bent upon educating her like a boy, to make up as far as 
possible for the unfortunate drawback of sex ; while her mother, 
on the contrary, hoped for nothing higher in her daughter than 
the sweet domestic companion most congenial to herself. The 
child, who was not supposed to understand, listened eagerly, as 
children invariably do listen to all that is intended to be spoken 
over their heads. Her ambition was roused ; to be educated 
like a boy became the object of her entire thoughts, and set her 
little mind working with independent projects of its own. She 
resolved to take the first step in this awful but fascinating 
course, on her own responsibility. Having already divined 
that Latin was the first grand point of distinction, she made up 
her mind to settle the matter by learning Latin. A copy of 
the Rudiments was quickly found in the lumber-room of the 
house, and a tutor not much farther off in a humble student of 
the neighbourhood. The little scholar had a dramatic instinct ; 
she did not pour forth her first lessou as soon as it was acquired, 
or rashly betray her secret. She waited the fitting place and 
moment. It was evening, when dinner had softened out the 
asperities of the day : the doctor sat in luxurious leisure in his 
dressing-gown and slippers, sipping his coffee ; and all the 
cheerful accessories of the fireside picture were complete. The 
little heroine had arranged herself under the table, under the 
crimson folds of the cover, which concealed her small person. 
All was still : the moment was arrived. " Penna, penned, pen- 
nant ! " burst forth the little voice in breathless steadiness. The 
result may be imagined : the doctor smothered his child with 
kisses, and even the mother herself had not a word to say : the 
victory was complete. 



CONFLICT BETWEEN PITY AND TRUTH. 23 

After this pretty scene, the proud doctor asked Sir John 
Leslie to send him a tutor for the little pupil who had made so 
promising a beginning. Sir John recommended the youthful 
teacher who was already in Haddington, and Edward Irving 
became the teacher of the little girl. Their hours of study were 
from six to eight in the morning — which inclines oDe to imagine 
that, in spite of his fondness, the excellent doctor must have 
held his household under Spartan discipline ; and again in the 
evening after school hours. "When the young tutor arrived in 
the dark of the winter mornings, and found his little pupil, 
scarcely dressed, peeping out of her room, he used to snatch 
her up in his arms, and carry her to the door, to name to her 
the stars shining in the cold firmament, hours, before dawn ; and 
when the lessons were over, he set the child up on the table at 
which they had been pursuing their studies, and taught her 
logic, to the great tribulation of the household, in which the 
little philosopher pushed her inquiries into the puzzling meta- 
physics of life. The greatest affection sprang up, as was na- 
tural, between the child and her young teacher, whose heart at 
all times of his life was always open to children. After the 
lapse of all these years, their companionship looks both pathetic 
and amusing. A life-long friendship sprang out of that early 
connection. The pupil, with all the enthusiasm of childhood, 
believed everything possible to the mind which gave its first 
impulse to her own ; and the teacher never lost the affectionate, 
indulgent love with which the little woman, thus confided to 
his boyish care, inspired him. Their intercourse did not have 
the romantic conclusion it might have been supposed likely to 
end in ; but, as a friendship, existed unbroken through all 
kinds of vicissitudes ; and even through entire separation, disap- 
proval, and outward estrangement, to the end of Irving' s life. 

When the lessons were over it was a rule that the young 
teacher should leave a daily report of his pupil's progress ; 
when, alas, that report was pessime, the little girl was punished. 
One day he paused long before putting his sentence upon 
paper. The culprit sat on the table, small, downcast, and con- 
scious of failure. The preceptor lingered remorsefully over his 
verdict, wavering between justice and mercy. At last he looked 
up at her with pitiful looks. " Jane, my heart is broken ! " cried 
the sympathetic tutor, " but I must tell the truth ; " and with 
reluctant pen he wrote the dread deliverance, pessiine ! The 
small offender doubtless forgot the penalty that followed ; but 
she has not yet forgotten the compassionate dilemma in which 
truth was the unwilling conqueror. 

The youth who entered his house under such circumstances 



24 NEW FRIENDS. 

soon became a favourite guest at the fireside of the doctor, who, 
himself a man of education and intelligence, and of that disposi- 
tion which makes men beloved, was not slow to find out the great 
qualities of his young visitor. There are some men who seem 
born to the inalienable good fortune of lighting upon the best 
people — "the most worthy," according to Irving's own expres- 
sion long afterwards — wherever they go. Irving's happiness 
in this way began at Haddington. The doctor's wife seems to 
have been one of those fair, sweet women whose remembrance 
lasts longer than greatness. There is no charm of beauty more 
delightful than that fragrance of it which lingers for genera- 
tions in the place where it has been an unconsciously refining 
and tender influence. The Annandale youth came into a little 
world of humanizing graces when he entered that atmosphere ; 
and it was only natural that he should retain the warmest re- 
collection of it throughout his life. It must have been of count- 
less benefit to him in this early stage of his career. The main 
quality in himself which struck observers was — in strong and 
strange contradiction to the extreme devotion of belief mani- 
fested in his latter years — the critical and almost sceptical 
tendency of his mind, impatient of superficial " received truths," 
and eager for proof and demonstration of everything. Perhaps 
mathematics, which then reigned paramount in his mind, were 
to blame ; he was as anxious to discuss, to prove and disprove, 
as a Scotch student fresh from college is naturally disposed to 
be. It was a peculiarity natural to his age and condition ; and 
as his language was always inclined to the superlative, and his 
feelings invariably took part in every matter which commended 
itself to his mind, it is probable that this inclination showed 
with a certain exaggeration to surrounding eyes. " This youth 
will scrape a hole in everything he is called on to believe," said 
the doctor ; — a strange prophecy, looking at it by that light of 
events which unfold so many unthought-of meanings in all pre- 
dictions. 

In the mean time he made himself popular in the town ; and 
apart from the delightful vignette above, appears in all his na- 
tural picturesque individuality in other recollections. The 
young master of the mathematical school commended himself 
to the hearts of those whose sons he had quickened out of 
dunces into intelligent prize-winning pupils. He was young 
and poor, and in a humble position still; but he attracted the 
warm admiration of the boys, and that enthusiasm which only 
young creatures in the early blush of existence can entertain 
for their elders. The means by which he won the hearts of 
those lads is simple and apparent enough. Though he was 



INCIDENT IN ST GEORGE'S CHURCH. 25 

severe and peremptory in school, — " a sad tyrant," somebody 
says, — out of doors he had just that delightful mixture of 
superior wisdom, yet equal innocence, — that junction of the 
teacher and the companion which is irresistible to all generous 
young people. Enthusiastic in his mathematical studies as he 
had come from Edinburgh, and loving the open air as became 
an Annandale lad of eighteen, he contrived to connect science 
and recreation in a social brotherly fashion quite his own. 
" Having the use of some fine instruments," says one of his 
pupils, Patrick Sheriff, Esq., of Haddington, "he devoted many 
of his school holidays to the measuring of heights and distances 
in the surrounding neighbourhood, and taking the altitudes of 
heavenly bodies. Upon such occasions he was invariably ac- 
companied by several of his pupils." "When the state of the 
atmosphere, or any other obstacle, interrupted the particular 
object of the day's excursion, the young teacher readily and 
joyfully diverged into the athletic games in which he excelled ; 
and with the scientific instruments standing harmless]y by, 
enjoyed his holiday as well as if everything had been favourable 
for their use. 

"Being an excellent walker," continues the gentleman 
already quoted, " all his excursions were made on foot. Upon 
one occasion when Dr Chalmers, then rising into fame, was 
announced to preach in St George's, Edinburgh, upon a summer 
week-day evening, Irving set out from Haddington after school- 
hours, accompanied by several of his pupils, and returned the 
same night, accomplishing a distance of about thirty-five miles 
without any other rest than what was obtained in church." 
The fatigue of this long walk was enlivened when the little 
party arrived at the church by a little outbreak of imperious 
pugnacity, not, perhaps, quite seemly in such a place, but 
characteristic enough. Tired with their walk, the boys and 
their youthful leader made their way up to the gallery of the 
church, where they directed their steps towards one particular 
pew which was quite unoccupied. Their entrance into the 
vacant place was, however, stopped by a man, who stretched 
his arm across the pew and announced that it was engaged. 
Irving remonstrated, and represented that at such a time all 
the seats were open to the public, but without effect. At last 
his patience gave way; and raising his hand he exclaimed, 
evidently with all his natural magniloquence of voice and ges- 
ture, " Eemove your arm, or I will shatter it in pieces! " His 
astonished opponent fell back in utter dismay, like Mrs Sid- 
dons' shopman, and made a precipitate retreat, while the rejoic- 
ing boys took possession of the pew. Thus, for the first time, 



26 SOCIETY IN HADDINGTON. 

Irving and Chalmers were brought, if not together, at least into 
the same assembly. The great preacher knew nothing of the 
lad who had come nearly eighteen miles to hear him preach, 
and sat resting his mighty youthful limbs in the seat from 
which he had driven his enemy. Such glimpses are curioua 
and full of interest, especially in remembrance of other daya 
which awaited Chalmers and Irving in that same church of St 
George. 

To return to Haddington, however ; Irving not only estab- 
lished his place as a warm and life-long friend in the house of 
the doctor, but made his way into the homes and society of 
many of the worthy inhabitants of the little town. Among 
those who had children at the Mathematical School and opened 
his house to the teacher, was Gilbert Burns, the brother of the 
poet, with whom he is said to have had some degree of intimacy ; 
and though the humble position of Dominie did not give him a 
very high place in the social scale, and restricted his friendships 
within the circle of those whose sons he educated, there were a 
sufficiently large number of the latter to make their young pre- 
ceptor known and received at most of the good houses in Had- 
dington. 

" Social supper parties," says Mr Alexander Inglis, once a 
resident in Haddington, who has kindly furnished me with 
some recollections of this period, " were much the custom at 
this time in Haddington, and the hospitalities generally ex- 
tended far into the night. At these social meetings Irving was 
occasionally in the habit of broaching some of his singular 
opinions about the high destinies of the human race in heaven, 
where the saints were not only to be made ' kings and priests 
unto God,' but were to rule and judge angels. Dr Lorimer 
(the senior minister of the town) used to hint that there were 
many more profitable and useful subjects in the JSTew Testa- 
ment for a divinity student to occupy his thoughts about than 
such speculations ; but Irving was not to be put down in this 
way. ' Dare either you or I deprive God of the glory and 
thanks due to his name, for this exceeding great reward ? ' cried 
the impetuous young man, according to the report of his old 
friend : the good doctor's ready reply was, ' Well, well, my dear 
friend, both you and I can be saved without knowing about 
that.' " 

Here Irving also made the acquaintance of Mr Stewart, 
then minister of Bolton, afterwards Dr Stewart, of Erskine, 
who was himself the subject of a sufficiently romantic story. 
This gentleman had been a medical man, and in that ca- 
pacity had cured the daughter of a Scotch nobleman of sup- 



YOUNG COMPANIONS. 27 

posed consumption. The physician and patient, after the 
most approved principles of poetical justice, fell in love 
with each other and married, and the former changed his 
profession, and becoming a minister, settled down in the 
parish of Bolton, and became doubly useful to his people and 
the neighbourhood in his double capacity. He too had been 
able to discern in some degree those qualities of mind and 
heart, which, despite his vehement speech and impatience, 
and love of argumentation, showed themselves in the young 
schoolmaster. In this Manse of Bolton Irving was in the 
habit of spending his Saturdays, along with a young fellow- 
student of his own, Mr Story, afterwards of Eosneath. Nor 
was he without society of his own age and standing. In those 
days, when long walks were habitual to everybody, Haddington 
was within reach of Edinburgh ; perhaps more distinctly within 
reach than now, when, instead of the long pleasant summer 
afternoon walk, costing nothing, the rapid railway, with inevit- 
able shillings and sixpences, and fixed hours of coming and 
going, does away with distance, yet magnifies the walk into a 
journey. On Saturdays and holidays there was no lack of 
visitors. A tide of eager young life palpitated about the teacher- 
student, even in that retirement, — life of a wonderfully different 
fashion from that which issues from English universities ; con- 
fined to limits much more narrow, and bound to practical 
necessities ; a world more hard and real. Among these com- 
rades there were perhaps scarcely two or three individuals 
whose studies were not professional ; and among the profes- 
sional students only a small number who were not, like Irving 
himself, taxing their youthful strength to procure the means of 
prosecuting their studies. 

His independence seems now to have been complete. In 
his humble Haddington lodgings he was no longer indebted 
even for his oatmeal and cheese to the home household, but had 
set out manful and early on the road of life for himself. Hence- 
forward Edward's expenses did not rank among the cares of 
the Annan home. At seventeen and a half the young man 
took up his own burden without a word or a token of complaint ; 
and ever after bore it courageously through all discouragements 
and trials, never breaking down or falling back upon the love, 
which, notwithstanding, his stout heart always trusted in. 
Neither genius, nor that temperament of genius, impassioned 
and visionary, which he possessed to a large extent, weakened 
his performance of this first duty which manifested itself to his 
eyes ; and he seems to have accepted his lot with a certain 
noble simplicity, neither resenting it, nor quarrelling with those 



18 .LEAVES HADDINGTON. 

whom circumstances made temporarily his superiors. Either 
people did not ill-use him, or he had some secret power of 
endurance which turns ill-usage aside. At all events, it is 
certain that the agonies of the sensitive, not sufficiently re- 
spected tutor, or the commotions of the indignant one, have no 
place whatever in Irving's youthful life. When the Hadding- 
ton corporation, not likely to be the most considerate masters 
in the world, afflicted their young schoolmaster, it is to be sup- 
posed that he blazed up at them manfully, and got done with 
it. At least he has no complaints to make, or old slights to 
remember ; nor does it seem that he ever sulked at his humble 
position or close labours at any time in his life. 

Irving remained two years at Haddington, during which time 
he began that singular grave pretence of theological education 
which is called " partial " study in the Divinity Hall. From 
the little Haddington school he was promoted, always with the 
good offices of Sir John Leslie, who seems to have had a sincere 
kindness for him, to the mastership of a newly established 
academy in Kirkcaldy ; in which place he spent a number of 
years, and decided various important matters deeply concerning 
his future life. 



CHAPTER IV. 

KIEKCALDT. 

" The lang town of Kirkcaldy " extends along the northern 
side of the Eirth of Eorth, and is one of the most important 
of that long line of little towns — fishing, weaving, trading 
centres of local activity, — which gleam along the margin of 
Eife, and help to make an abrupt but important edge to the 
golden fertile fringe which, according to a pretty, antique 
description, adorns the "russet mantle" of that characteristic 
county. These little towns extend in a scattered, broken line, 
downward from Qneensferry, till the coast rounds off into Sfc 
Andrew's Bay ; and are full of a busy yet leisurely industry, 
sometimes quickened almost into the restless pulse of trade. 
Kirkcaldy earned its title of the " lang town " from the pro- 
longed line of its single street, running parallel to the shore 
for rather more than a mile, and at that time had not widened 
into proportioned breadth, nor invested itself with tiny suburbs 



KIRKCALDY ACADEMY. 29 

and the body of scattered population which now gives it im- 
portance. In the year 1812 there was no school in this flour- 
ishing and comfortable place, except the parish school, with its 
confusion of ranks and profound Republicanism of letters, 
where boys and girls of all classes were rudely drilled into the 
common elements of education, with such climaxes of Latin 
and mathematics as were practicable. The professional people 
of Kirkcaldy, headed by the minister, who had himself a large 
family to educate, and the well-to-do shopkeepers and house- 
holders of the place, determined, accordingly, upon the estab- 
lishment of a new school, of higher pretensions, and Edward 
Irving was selected as its first master. Two rooms in a cen- 
tral " wynd," opening into each other, with a tiny class-room 
attached — now occupied by a humble schoolmaster, who points 
to his worm-eaten wooden desks as being those used by " the 
great Mr Irving " — were simply fitted up into the new aca- 
demy. 

Without any accessories to command respect, in a humble 
locality, with a cobbler's hutch in the sunk storey beneath, and 
common houses crowding round, the new institution, notwith- 
standing, impressed respect upon the town, and soon became 
important. Boys and girls, as was usual, sat together at those 
brown oaken desks without the least separation, and pursued 
their studies together with mutual rivalry. Eor some time 
Irving managed them alone, but afterwards had an assistant, 
and in this employment remained for seven years, and had the 
training of a generation in his hands. The recollection of him 
is still fresh in the town ; his picturesque looks, his odd ways, 
his severities, his kindnesses, the distinct individuality of the 
man. Here that title which was afterwards to be the popular 
designation of a religious community came into active playful 
use, long and innocently antedating its more permanent mean- 
ing, and the academy scholars distinguished each other as 
" Irvingites," — a special and affectionate bond of fraternity. 
He was now twenty, and had attained his full height, which 
some say was two, and some four, inches over six feet ; his ap- 
pearance was noble and remarkable to a high degree, his fea- 
tures fine, his figure, in its great height, fully developed and 
vigorous ; the only drawback to his good looks being the de- 
fect in his eye, which, with so many and great advantages to 
counterbalance it, seems rather to have given piquancy to his 
face than to have lessened its attraction. Such a figure at- 
tracted universal attention : he could not pass through a vil- 
lage without being remarked and gazed after ; and some of his 
Kirkcaldy pupils remember the moment when they first saw 



30 SEVERE DISCIPLINE. 

him, with the clearness which marks, not an ordinary meeting, 
but an event. This recollection is perhaps assisted by the 
fact, that though a divinity student, already overshadowed by 
the needful gravity of the priesthood, and in present posses- 
sion of all the importance of a " Dominie," he had no such 
solemn regard to dress as afterwards became one of his pecu- 
liarities, but made his appearance in Kirkcaldy in a morning 
coat made of some set of tartan in which red predominated, to 
the admiration of all beholders. 

A young man of twenty, with the full charge of a large 
number of boys and girls, in a limited space, and undertaking 
all the items of a miscellaneous education, no doubt needed the 
assistance of a somewhat rigorous discipline, and it is evident 
that he used its help with much freedom. Sounds were heard 
now and then proceeding from the school-room which roused 
the pity and indignation of the audience of neighbours out of 
doors. One of these, a joiner, deacon of his trade, and a man 
of great strength, is reported to have appeared one day, with 
his shirt-sleeves rolled up to his elbows and an axe on his 
shoulder, at the door of the school-room, asking, " Do ye 
want a hand * the day, Mr Irving ? " with dreadful irony. 
Another ludicrous mistake testifies to the general notion that 
careless scholars occasionally got somewhat hard measure from 
the young master. Some good men loitering about their gar- 
dens, in the neighbourhood of the " academy," heard outcries 
which alarmed them ; and, convinced that murder was being 
accomplished in the school, set off to save the victim ; but dis- 
covered, to their great discomfiture, that the cries which had 
attracted their sympathy came from an unfortunate animal 
under the hands of a butcher, and not from a tortured school- 
boy. These severe measures, however, by no means obliterate 
the pleasanter recollection with which Irving' s pupils recall 
his reign at the academy. It was not in his nature to work 
among even a set of school-boys without identifying himself 
with them, and carrying them with Mm into all the occupa- 
tions and amusements which they could possibly be made to 
bear a share in. On the holidays the young teacher might be 
seen with both boys and girls in his train, issuing forth to 
the fields with such scientific instruments as he could command, 
giving them lessons in mensuration and surveying, which, half 
in sport and half in earnest, doubtless, were not without their 
use to the fortunate lads thus promoted to share his hours of 
leisure. The same lads went with him to the Firth, where he 

* Anglic! — assistance, a helper. 



" DOING ALL THINGS HEARTILY." 31 

renewed those feats of swimming which had distinguished him 
on the Sol way ; and, sometimes with an urchin on his shoulder, 
sometimes holding an oar or a rope to sustain the more advanced, 
sometimes lending the aid of bis own vigorous arm, the young 
Hercules taught, or endeavoured to teach, his pupils to be as 
fearless in the water as himself. If he might sometimes happen 
to be discontented with his occupation, as was very possible, it 
never occurred to Irving to evidence that feeling by doing just 
as little as could be demanded of him. Exactly the reverse was 
the impulse of his generous, single-minded nature. He went 
into it with all the fresh, natural fulness of his heart. He 
never seems to have attempted making any division of himself. 
And this is no picture of an interesting student compelled to 
turn aside from his studies by the necessity of maintaining 
himself — and if not resentful, at least preserving a certain re- 
serve and pathetical injured aspect towards the world, as there 
are so many ; but an entire individual man, full of the highest 
ambition, yet knowing no possibility of any other course of 
conduct than that of doing what his hand found to do, with all 
his heart, as freely as if he had loved the work for its own 
sake. With such a disposition, he could not even enter into 
any work without insensibly getting to love it, and spending 
himself freely, with exuberant volunteer efforts not demanded 
of him. Under no circumstances was indifference possible to 
this young man ; though, even then, it is very apparent, pro- 
phetic visions of a very different audience, and of future pos- 
sibilities which no one else dreamt of, were with him in the 
midst of his hearty and cordial labours. 

Thus for a circle of years his remarkable figure pervades 
that little town ; seen every day upon the shore, pacing up 
and down the yellow sands with books and meditations, — the 
great Firth rolling in at his feet in waves more grand and less 
impetuous than those of his native Sol way ; with green islands 
gleaming in the light, and Arthur's Seat looming out through 
the Edinburgh smoke in the distance, a moody lion ; and many 
a moonlight night upon the same shore, collecting round him 
his little band of eager disciples, to point out the stars in their 
courses, and communicate such poetical elements of astronomy 
as were congenial to such a scene. These latter meetings 
were disturbed and brought to a conclusion in a whimsical 
homely fashion. One season it happened that, on two different 
occasions when they met, falling stars were seen. Forthwith 
some of the common people took up the notion that Irving 
drew down the stars, or at least knew when they were to fall. 
They accordingly watched for him and his pupils, and pushing 



32 MILTON CLASS. 

in amongst them with ignorant, half-superstitious curiosity, 
broke up the little conclave. A curious incident, in which a 
fanciful observer might see some dim, mystic anticipations of 
a future not yet revealed even to its hero. Indoors, in his own 
domain, as the different classes went on with their lessons, he 
moved about in perpetual activity, seldom sitting down, and 
always fully intent upon the progress of his flock. Now and then 
he gave them a holiday, on condition of receiving afterwards 
an essay describing how they had spent their time — receiving 
in return some amusing productions largely taken up with birds' 
nesting and other such exploits of rustic boyhood. Both 
French and Italian, in addition to the steadier routine of Latin 
and mathematics, seem to have been attempted by the ardent 
young teacher ; and his own class read Milton with him, learn- 
ing large portions of Paradise Lost by heart. " Wherever the 
sense seemed involved, the pupils were required to re-arrange 
the sentence and give it in prose. This implied a thorough 
understanding of the passage and appreciation of its meaning." 
Altogether a system of education of a lofty optimist character, 
quite as rare and unusual in the present day as at that time. 
It is said that one of his older pupils came on one occasion to 
this same Milton Class before the arrival of her companions, 
and on reaching the door of the class-room, found Irving 
alone, reciting to himself one of the speeches of Satan, with 
so much emphasis and so gloomy a countenance, that the ter- 
rified girl, unable to conceal her fright, fled precipitately. 
Some of his pupils — and among these, one or two girls — came 
to high proficiency in the mathematical studies, which were 
specially dear to their young instructor ; and — much apart 
from mathematics — Irving so managed to impress his spirit 
upon the lads under his charge, that the common conjunction 
of boys and girls in this school became the means of raising a 
certain chivalrous spirit, not naturally abounding among 
school-boys, in Kirkcaldy and its academy. That spirit of 
chivalry which, under the form of respect to women, embodies 
the truest magnanimous sentiment of strength, rose involun- 
tarily among the youths commanded by such a leader. They 
learned to suspend their very snow-ball bickers till the girls had 
passed out of harm's way ; and awing the less fortunate gamins 
of the little town by their sturdy championship, made the name 
of " an academy lassie " a defence against all annoyance. The 
merest snowball directed against the sacred person of one of 
these budding women was avenged by the generous zeal of the 
" Irvingites." The girls perhaps on their side were not equally 
considerate, but won prizes over the heads of their stronger 



33 

associates with no compunction, and took their full share of 
the labours, though scarcely of the penalties of the school. 
Amusing anecdotes of the friendship existing between the 
teacher and his pupils are told on all sides : his patience and 
consideration in childish disasters, and prompt activity when 
accidents occurred ; and even his readiness to be joked with 
when times were propitious. It was necessary to secure be- 
forehand, however, that times were propitious. On one such 
sunshiny occasion some of the boys propounded the old stock 
riddle about the seven wives with their stock of cats and kits 
" whom I met going to St Ives " — and the whole school looked 
on, convulsed with secret titterings, while their simple-minded 
master went on jotting down upon his black board in visible 
figures the repeated sevens of that tricky composition. Their 
floggings do not seem to have much damped the spirit of 
the Kirkcaldy boys, or diminished their confidence in their 
teacher. 

During the early part of Irving's residence in Kirkcaldy he 
was still a partial student at the Divinity Hall. During the 
first three winters he had to go over to Edinburgh now and 
then, to deliver the discourses which were necessary, in order 
to keep up his standing as a student. " On these occasions," 
says the lady from whose notes the chief details of his Kirk- 
caldy history are taken, " to insure his pupils losing as little 
as possible, he used to ask them to meet him at the school at 
six, or half-past-six, in the morning. This arrangement en- 
abled him to go over the most important of the lessons before 
the hour at which the fly started to meet the passage-boat 
at Kinghorn" — that being, before the age of steamers, the 
most rapid conveyance between Fife and Edinburgh. On his 
return from one such expedition, he himself describes how, 
" in fear of a tedious passage across the ferry under night, 
I requested from a friend of mine in Edinburgh a book, which, 
by combining instruction with amusement, might at once turn 
to account the time, and relieve the tiresomeness of the voy- 
age." The book was Rasselas ; and was afterwards sent, 
with an amusingly elaborate, schoolmaster note, to two young 
ladies, whom the young teacher (who afterwards made one of 
them his wife) addresses as " my much-respected pupils." 
The friend who lent the book desired it to be given as a prize 
to the best scholar in the school, and having been present at 
the examination, distinguished these two, without being able 
to decide between them ; but at the same time deprecated any 
mention of himself on account of the trifling value of his gift. 
"Whereupon Irving adds, with quaint antique solemnity, that 

o 

i 



34 THE MINISTER OF KIRKCALDY. 

" it was not the worth but the honour which should be re- 
garded : that the conquerors of Greece and Rome reckoned 
themselves more honoured by the laurel crown than if they 
had enjoyed the splendid pomp of the noblest triumph ; " and 
concludes by sending the book to both, so that " by making 
the present mutual, it will not only be a testimonial of your 
progress, but also of that attachment which I hope will ripen 
into cordial friendship ; and which it is the more pleasant to 
observe as its place is too often occupied by jealousy and 
envy." 

Out of this exemplary beginning, however, sprang important 
conclusions. Though it was only after a distance of long years 
and much separation, the usual vicissitudes of youthful life, and 
all the lingering delays of a classical probation, that the engage- 
ment was completed, Irving found his mate in Fifeshire. Not 
long after she had ceased to be his pupil he became engaged 
to Isabella Martin, the eldest daughter of the parish minister of 
Kirkcaldy. She was of a clerical race, an hereditary " daughter 
of the Manse," according to the affectionate popular designa- 
tion, and of a name already in some degree known to fame in 
the person of Dr Martin, of Monimail, her grandfather, who 
survived long enough to baptize and bless his great-grand- 
children — who had some local poetical reputation in his day, 
and whom the grateful painter, entitled in Scotland " our 
immortal Wilkie," has commemorated as having helped his 
early struggles into fame by the valuable gift of two lay 
figures : and of David Martin, his brother, first proprietor of 
the said lay figures, whose admirable portraits are well known. 
Her father, the Rev. John Martin, was an admirable type of 
the class to which he belonged — an irreproachable parish priest, 
of respectable learning and talents and deep piety, living a 
domestic patriarchal life in the midst of the little community 
under his charge, fully subject to their observation and criti- 
cism, but without any rival in his position or influence ; 
briuging up his many children among them, and spending his 
active days in all that fatherly close supervision of morals and 
manners which distinguished and became the old hereditary 
ministers of Scotland. He was of the party then called " wild" 
or " high-flyers," in opposition to the " Moderates," who formed 
the majority of the Church, and whose flight was certainly low 
enough to put them in little hazard from any skyey influ- 
ences. Such a man in those days exercised over the bulk of 
his people an influence which, perhaps, no man in any position 
exercises now — and in which the special regard of the really 
religious portion of his flock only put a more fervent clima.' 






35 

upon the traditionary respect of the universal people, always 
ready, when he was worthy of it, to yield to the traditionary 
sway of the minister, though equally ready to jeer at and scorn 
him' when he was not, with a contempt increased by their na- 
tional appreciation of the importance of his office. To the 
house of this good man Irving had early obtained access, the 
Manse children in a goodly number being among his scholars, 
and the Manse itself forming the natural centre of all lay pro- 
fessors of literature in a region which had too many sloops and 
looms on hand to be greatly attracted that way. The family 
in this Manse of Kirkcaldy, which afterwards became so closely 
related to him, and the younger members of which understood 
him all the better that their minds had been formed and deve- 
! oped under his instruction, were, during all his after life, 
Irving's fast friends, accompan^ ing him, not with concurrence 
or agreement certainly, but with faithful affection and kind- 
ness to the very edge of the grave. 

He had now completed his necessary tale of collegiate ses- 
sions, having been, in the partial and irregular way necessitated 
by his other occupations, in attendance at the Divinity Hall for 
six long winters. He was now subjected to the " trials for 
license," which Presbyterian precautions require. " They are 
now taken to the severest trials by the Presbytery of the 
Church in those bounds where they reside," he himself de- 
scribes with loving boastfulness, proud of the severities of the 
Church from which he never could separate his heart, — " and 
circular letters are sent to all the presbyters in that district, 
in order that objections may be taken against him who would 
have the honour, and take upon himself the trust, of preaching 
Christ. If no objections are offered, they proceed to make 
trial of his attainments in all things necessary for the ministry ; 
his knowledge, his piety, his learning, and his character. They 
prescribe to him five several discourses ; one an ' Exegesis,' in 
Latin, to discover his knowledge in that language ; another an 
exercise in Greek criticism, to discover his knowledge in sacred 
literature ; another a homily ; another a discourse to the clergy, 
to know his gifts in expounding the Scriptures ; another a 
sermon, to know his gifts in preaching to the people. These 
trials last half a year ; and being found sufficient, he is per- 
mitted to preach the G-ospel among the churches. But he is 
not yet ordained, for our Church ordaineth no man without a 
flock." 

It is thus that Irving, when at the height of his fame, and 
opening the great new church built for him in London, affec- 
tionately vaunts the carefulness of his ecclesiastical mother. 



36 

He went through his " trials " in the early part of the year 
1815. and was fully licensed to preach the Grospel by the Pres- 
bytery of Kirkcaldy in the June of that year ; and " exercised 
his gift," according to the old Scotch expression, thereafter in 
Kirkcaldy, and other places, with no great amount of popular 
appreciation. A humorous description of his first sermon, 
preached in Annan, is given by an early friend. The " haill 
toim," profoundly critical and much interested, turned out to 
hear him ; even his ancient teachers, with solemn brows, came 
out to sit in judgment on Edward's sermon. A certain ex- 
citement of interest, unusual to that humdrum atmosphere, 
thrilled through the building. When the sermon was in full 
current, some incautious movement of the young preacher 
tilted aside the great Bible, and the sermon itself, that direful 
"paper" which Scotch congregations hold in high despite, 
dropped out bodily, and fluttered down upon the precentor's 
desk underneath. A perfect rustle of excitement ran through 
the church ; here was an unhoped-for crisis ! — what would the 
neophyte do now ? The young preacher calmly stooped his 
great figure over the pulpit, grasped the manuscript as it lay, 
broadways, crushed it up in his great hand, thrust it into a 
pocket, and went on as fluently as before. There does not 
exist a congregation in Scotland which that act would not have 
taken by storm. His success was triumphant. To criticize a 
man so visibly independent of "the paper" would have been 
presumption indeed. 

In Kirkcaldy, however, his appearances neither excited such 
interest, nor were attended by any such fortunate accident. 
The people listened doubtfully to those thunder- strains which 
echoed over their heads, and which were certainly not like Dr 
Martin's sermons. They could not tell what to make of dis- 
courses so strangely different from the discourses of other or- 
thodox young probationers, and doubtless the style was still 
unformed, and had not yet attained that rhythm and music 
which would not have passed unnoticed even in Kirkcaldy ; 
yet the common complaint alleged against it was perfectly 
characteristic. " He had ower muckle gran'ner," the good 
people said, with disturbed looks. Too much grandeur ! most 
true, but most singular of criticisms ! A certain baker, Beve- 
ridge by name (let us hand it down to such immortality 
as can be referred by this record), rudely, with Scotch irre- 
verence for the place in which he was, kicked his pew-door 
open and bounced forth out of the church, when the lofty head 
of the young schoolmaster was seen in the pulpit ; and the 
same church which, a few years after, was disastrously crowded 



"OWER MUCKLE GRANDER." 37 

with hearers coming far and near at the name of the great 
preacher, thinned out of its ordinary attendance in those early 
days when he was to supply Dr Martin's place. He got no 
credit and little encouragement in what was, after all, his real 
vocation. The fervent beginnings of his eloquence were 
thrown back cold upon his heart : no eye in his audience 
making response to that imperfect splendid voice of half- 
developed genius which was so wonderfully distinct from the 
common-place shrills of ordinary pulpit declamation which 
they listened to and relished. He had " ower muckle gran'ner " 
for the good people of Kirkcaldy. His chaotic splendours dis- 
concerted them ; and no doubt there was a certain justice in 
the general voice. A style so rich and splendid might very 
well have sounded turgid or bombastic in youth, before the 
harmonious key-note had been found. 

He lingered three years after his license as a preacher, in 
his schoolmaster's desk ; silent, listening to other preachers, not 
always with much edification ; noting how the people to whom 
his own " unacceptableness " was apparent, relished the plati- 
tudes of meaner men : laying in unconsciously a certain scorn 
and intolerance of those limited pretenders to wisdom whose 
sham or borrowed coin had fuller currency than his own virgin 
gold ; and as he sat in a position from which he could at once 
watch the pulpit and the audience, with thoughts on this mo- 
mentous and often-discussed subject taking gradual form in his 
mind, he asked himself the reasons of his own apparent failure. 
He asked himself a still deeper question, whether this was the 
preaching of Paul and his brother apostles ? This process of 
thought is apparent throughout all his works, and above all in 
the Orations with which he first burst upon the world. Those 
three years of slow successive Sundays, now and then inter- 
rupted by an occasional appearance in the pulpit hailed by no 
gracious looks, gave the silent listener, whose vocation it was 
to preach, deep insight into, and deeper impatience of, the com- 
mon conventionalities of the pulpit. 

During this period of his life, his personal religious senti- 
ments are not very apparent, nor is there any record, so far as 
I have been able to ascertain, of such a critical moment in his 
life as those which have formed the turning point of so many 
minds. He was spotless in manners and morals at all times ; 
but not without faults of temper ; and was specially dis- 
tinguished by a certain cheerful, cordial pugnacity, and readi- 
ness, when occasion called for it, to adopt a boldly offensive 
line of tactics in support of his own dignity and independence, 
or those of his class ; partly stimulated thereto, doubtless, by 



38 ADVENTURE IN A HIGHLAND INN. 

the great personal strength which could no more consent to re- 
main inactive than any other of his gifts. In one of his many 
walking excursions, for example, he and his companion came to 
a little roadside inn, where there was but one sitting-room, of 
a very homely description. The young men left their coats 
and knapsacks in this room, ordered dinner, and went out to 
investigate the neighbourhood while it was getting ready. On 
their return, however, they found the room occupied by a party 
of tourists, the only table filled, their dinner forestalled, and 
their belongings huddled into a corner. Eeruonstrances were 
unavailing ; the intruders not only insisted that they had a 
right to retain possession of the room, but resisted the entrance 
of the hungry and tired pedestrians, and would neither share 
the table nor the apartment. "When fair means were no longer 
practicable, Irving pushed forward to the window, and threw 
it wide open ; then, turning towards the company, all ready for 
action, gravely addressed his comrade : — " Will you toss out or 
knock down ? " — a business-like inquiry, which, according to 
the story, changed with great rapidity the aspect of affairs. 
Other anecdotes not unsimilar might be quoted. " In the year 
1816," says Dr Grierson, " the 42nd Eegiment, having returned 
after Waterloo, was employed to line the streets of Edinburgh 
on the day when, at the opening of the General Assembly, the 
Eoyal Commissioner proceeded in state from the reception hall 
in Hunter Square, to St Giles's. Standing in front of the 
Grenadier Company, Irving said to me, pointing to the tallest 
man among them, ' Do you see that fellow ? I should like to 
meet him in a dark entry.' ' For what reason ? ' I inquired. 
' Just,' said he, ■ that I might find out what amount of drubbing 
I could bear.' " 

The meeting of Assembly here referred to was enlivened by 
a momentary specimen of the young man's muscular power. It 
is impossible, out of Scotland, to form any idea of what was 
then the interest excited by the General Assembly, which 
had been for centuries the national parliament of exclusive 
Scottish principles and feelings. The late Lord Cockburn, in 
his Memorials, as well as in his Life of Lord Jeffrey, has repro- 
duced, in slight but graphic sketches, the characteristic aspect 
of that unique ecclesiastical body. Scotch churchmen may 
naturally enough object to the friendly but not reverential de- 
scription of the brilliant lawyer; but it is almost the only 
popular picture of the most national of all Scotch institutions 
which can be referred to. At the period of which we are now 
speaking, there was scarcely any dissent in the country ; the 
body of the nation held tenaciously by the Kirk, laymen of the 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 39 

highest class shared in its deliberations, and the most distin- 
guished lawyers of the Scotch bar pleaded in its judicial courts. 
A great discussion in the Assembly was as interesting to Edin- 
burgh as a great debate in Parliament would be in London to- 
day ; and the interest, and even excitement, which attended 
this yearly Convocation, had taken a stimulus from the grow- 
ing stir of external life, and from the still more important 
growth of existence within. The time was critical for every 
existing institution. The Church, long dormant, was, like 
other organizations, beginning to thrill with a new force, against 
which all the slumbrous past arrayed itself; and the Scotch 
metropolis was stirred with universal emotion to see the new 
act of that world-loug drama which is renewed from age to age 
in every church and country ; that struggle in which, once in a 
century at least, indifference and common usage are brought 
to bay by the new life rising against them, and, roused at last, 
fight for their sluggish existence with such powers as they are 
able to muster. At such a moment occurred the famous " De- 
bate on Pluralities," which holds an important place in the 
modern history of the Scotch Church — a debate in which 
" Chalmers of Kilmany," not long before zealously ambitious 
to hold such pluralities in his own person, but who had since 
gone through that mysterious and wonderful change in his 
views, which, when clearly honest and undoubted, no human 
audience can refuse to be interested in, was to lead the attack. 
The pluralities in question were such as might awaken the 
smiles of the richer establishment on the other side of the 
Tweed, where the word bears a more important meaning. The 
widest extent of pluralities possible to a Scotch clergyman wa3 
that of holding a professor's chair in conjunction w r ith his pul- 
pit and parochial duties. This question, which at the time, 
from the parties and principle involved, interested everybody, 
had naturally a double interest for the future ministers of the 
Church. The probationers and students of divinity were eager 
to gain admittance. The Assembly sat in a portion of St 
Giles's, known by the name of the Old Assembly Aisle, one of 
the quaint sub -divisions into which that church, like Grlasgow 
Cathedral in former days, has been partitioned for congrega- 
tional use and convenience, and where the narrow pews and 
deep steep galleries, thrust in between the lofty pillars, are as 
much out of keeping with those pillars themselves as is the 
white-washed blank of wall, despoiled of its tombs and altars, 
under the calm height of the vault above. " The Old Assem- 
bly Aisle," says the gentleman already quoted, " afforded but 
very limited accommodation, and the students' gallery was un- 



40 INTOLERANCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. 

derstood to be occupied by some persons not of their body. 
At this Irving felt great indignation. He remonstrated with 
the door-keeper, but in vain ; he demanded entrance for him- 
self and others who were excluded ; and when no attention 
was, or perhaps could be, paid by that official, he put his 
shoulder to the narrow door, and, applying his Herculean 
strength to it, fairly wrenched it off its hinges ! The crash in- 
terrupted the proceedings of the court, and produced both sur- 
prise and diversion, but no redress of grievances." 

As the time of his probation lengthened out, it is probable 
that Irving, with all his inclinations rising towards the profes- 
sion which the Church had now solemnly sanctioned his choice 
of, and pronounced him capable for, became very weary of his 
schoolmaster life. Another school, in opposition to his, was 
set up in the town, not apparently from any distaste towards 
him, but from the advancing desire for liberal education which 
his own long apprenticeship in Kirkcaldy must have fostered ; 
a school which — singular luck for the little Fife seaport — 
secured the early services of Thomas Carlyle. Changes too, 
and attempts at widening out his limited possibilities, appear 
in his own life. To increase the profits of his post, — which 
however of themselves appear to have been considerable, as 
such matters go, — Irving made an attempt to receive private 
pupils, who were to attend his school and live under his own 
charge. For this purpose, he took up his abode in the Abbots- 
hall school-house, at one extremity of the town of Kirkcaldy, 
but in another parish, the parish schoolmaster of which was, 
like himself, a candidate for the Church. The house was the 
upper flat of the building occupied as a school, and was more 
commodious than the majority of schoolmasters' houses. A 
nobler Marina could not be than the broad terrace over- 
looking the Firth, but totally unappropriated to any uses of 
fashion or visitors, upon which stands the school-house of Abbots- 
hall, beholding from its range of windows a wide landscape, 
always interesting, and often splendid, the Firth with all its 
islands, the distant spires and heights of Edinburgh, and the 
green Lothian coast with its bays and hills. "Whether the 
pupils were slow to come, or the conjoint household did not 
answer, or Irving himself tired of the experiment, does not 
appear ; but it was soon given up, and does not seem to have 
had any success. " Ay, Mr Irving once lived here — he was a 
great mathematician," says the present incumbent, complacent 
among his gooseberry bushes. Spoken in that sunny garden, 
such words throw back and set aside the years which have 
made little change on anything but man. One forgets how 



AFLOAT ON THE WORLD. 41 

his sun rose to noon, and at noon disastrously went down, 
carrying with it a world of hopes ; a mist of distance conceals 
the brilliant interval between this homely house and the Glas- 
gow Cathedral crypt. Here, where once he lived, it is not the 
great preacher, the prophet and wonder of an age, whose shadow 
lingers on the kindly soil. He was master of Kirkcaldy Aca- 
demy in those days. He was " a great mathematician ; " the 
glory of an after career, foreign to the school-room, has not 
rubbed out that impression from the mind of his humble suc- 
cessor on the spot where as yet he had no other fame. 



CHAPTER V. 

AFLOAT ON THE WORLD. 



In 1818, when he had been seven years in Kirkcaldy, and 
had now reached the maturity of his twenty-sixth year, Irving 
finally left his school and gave up teaching. The position 
seems to have been growing irksome to him for some time be- 
fore. It was not his profession ; and he was wastiug the early 
summer of his life in work which, however cordially he em- 
braced it, was not the best work for such a man. His assist- 
ants too, on whom as the school increased he had to depend, 
brought him into other complications ; and he was now no 
longer a youth lingering at the beginning of his career, but a 
man eager to enter the arena where so many others less worthy 
were contending for the prize ; and not only so, but a man 
engaged to be married, to whom nature indicated the necessity 
of fixing himself permanently in life. Moved by the rising ex- 
citement of all these thoughts, and apparently not without 
means of maintaining himself for some time, while he saw what 
work the world might have for him to do, he finally gave up 
the Kirkcaldy Academy in the summer of 1818, and resolving 
henceforward to devote himself to his own profession alone, 
came to Edinburgh, where he took lodgings in Bristo Street, a 
locality still frequented by students. Here he was near the 
college, and in the centre of all that mental activity from which 
he had been separated in the drowsy retirement of the country 
town. He entered largely and gladly into all academical pur- 
suits. He renewed his acquaintance with friends who had been 
with him in his early college days ; or wmom he had met in his 
hurried visits to Edinburgh, while lingering through his tedious 



42 RENEWED STUDIES. 

" partial " sessions in the Divinity Hall ; and seems to have 
heartily set to work to increase his own attainments, and make 
himself better qualified for whatsoever post he might be called 
to. It is not a brilliant period in the young man's life. He 
presents himself to us in the aspect of an unsuccessful proba- 
tioner, a figure never rare in Scotland ; a man upon whom no 
sunshine of patronage shone, and whom just as little had the 
popular eye found out or fixed upon ; whose services were un- 
solicited either by friendly ministers or vacant congregations — 
a man fully licensed and qualified to preach, whom nobody 
cared to hear. With the conviction strong in his mind that 
this was his appointed function in the world, and with a con- 
sciousness of having pondered the whole matter much more 
deeply than is usual with young preachers, there rose before 
Irving the immovable barrier of unsuccess ; — not failure ; he 
had never found means to try his powers sufficiently for failure 
— even that might have been less hard to bear than the blank 
of indifference and " unacceptability " which he had now to en- 
dure. His services were not required in the world ; the pro- 
fession for which, by the labours of so many years, he had 
slowly qualified himself, hung in his hands, an idle capability 
of which nothing came. Yet the pause at first seems to have 
been grateful. He had nothing to do — but at all events he 
had escaped from long toiling at a trade which was not his. 

Accordingly, he attended several classes in the college 
during the winter of 1818-19; among which were Chemistry 
and Natural History. " He prosecuted these studies," says 
a fellow-student, " at least in some of their branches, with 
great delight ; " although in a note written at this period to 
Mr Gordon, afterwards Dr Grordon of Edinburgh, he confesses, 
while mentioning that he had been studying mineralogy, " that 
he had learned from it as little about the structure of the 
earth as he could have learned about the blessed G-ospel by 
examining the book of kittle* Chronicles!" He was also 
much occupied with the modern languages ; French and 
Italian especially. These were before the days of Teutonic 
enthusiasm ; but Irving seems to have had a pleasure in, and 
faculty for, acquiring languages, as was testified by his rapid 
acquirement of Spanish at an after period of his life. 

In the reviving glow of intellectual life, his long pondering 
upon the uses of the pulpit came to a distinct issue. He an- 
nounced his intention of burning all his existing sermons, and 
beginning on a new system : an intention which was remorse- 
lessly carried out. Those prelections which the youth had 
* Difficult, puzzling. 



BEGINS ANEW. 43 

delivered from year to year in the Divinity Hall, and those dis- 
courses which the Kirkcaldy parishioners had despised, and 
Beveridge the baker had boldly escaped from hearing, were 
sacrificed in this true auto-da-fe. No doubt it was a fit and 
wise holocaust. Sacrificing all his youthful conventionalities 
and speculations, Irving, at six-and-twenty, began to compose 
what he was to address to such imaginary hearers as he him- 
self had been in Kirkcaldy church. The wonderful fame 
which flashed upon him whenever he stood forth single before 
the world, takes a certain explanation even beyond the peren- 
nial explanation of all wonders which lies in genius, from this 
fact. For the four silent years during which he had possessed 
the right to speak, other people had been addressing him out 
of Dr Martin's pulpit; all the ordinary round of argument 
and exhortation had been tried in unconscious experiment 
upon the soul of the great preacher, who sat silent, chafing, 
yet weighing them all in his heart. He knew where they 
failed, and how they failed, far more distinctly than reason or 
even imagination could have taught him. Their tedium, their 
ineffectiveness, their wasted power and superficial feeling, told 
all the more strongly upon him because of his consciousness that 
the place thus occupied was his own fit place, and that he him- 
self had actually something to say ; and when the school- 
master's daily duties were over, and he had time and leisure to 
turn towards his own full equipment, the result was such as I 
have just described. Warmed and stimulated by his own ex- 
perience, he began to write sermons to himself — that impatient, 
vehement hearer, whose character and intelligence none of the 
other preachers had studied. Perhaps, in the midst of all the 
modern outcry against sermons, the preachers of the world 
might adopt Irving's method with advantage. "While he wrote 
he had always in his eye that brilliant, dissatisfied, restless list- 
ener, among the side pews in Kirkcaldy church. He knew to 
a hair's-breadth what that impatient individual wanted — how 
much he could bear — how he could be interested, edified, or 
disgusted. I have no doubt it was one of the great secrets of 
his after power ; and that the sweet breath of popular applause, 
pleasant though it might have been, would have injured the 
genius which, in silence, and unacceptableness, and dire pro- 
longed experiment of other people's preaching, came to be its 
own perennial hearer — the first and deepest critic of its own 
powers. 

While in Edinburgh, and entering into all the pleasures 
of its congenial intellectual society, Irving met once more 
the little pupil whose precocious studies he had superintended 



44 



HIS HADDINGTON PUPIL. 



at Haddington. He found her a beautiful and vivacious 
girl, with an affectionate recollection of her old master ; and 
the young man found a natural charm in her society. I 
record this only for a most characteristic, momentary appear- 
. ance which he makes in the memory of his pupil. It happened 
that he, with natural generosity, introduced some of his friends 
to the same hospitable house. But the generosity of the most 
liberal stops somewhere. "When Irving heard the praises of 
one of those same friends falling too warmly from the young 
lady's lips, he could not conceal a little pique and mortifica- 
tion which escaped in spite of him. When this little ebulli- 
tion was over, the fair culprit turned to leave the room ; but 
had scarcely passed the door when Irving hurried after her, 
and called, entreating her to return for a moment. When she 
came back, she found the simple-hearted giant standing peni- 
tent to make his confession. " The truth is, I was piqued," 
said Irving ; " I have always been accustomed to fancy that 1 
stood highest in your good opinion, and I was jealous to hear 
you praise another man. I am sorry for what I said just now 
— that is the truth of it ; " and so, not pleased, but penitent and 
candid, let her go. It is a fair representation of his prevailing 
characteristic. He could no more have retained what he felt 
to be a meanness on his mind unconfessed, than he could have 
persevered in the wrong. 

Thus the session — the few busy months of university la- 
bours — the long year of expectation and hope, passed over 
amid many occupations and solacements of friendship. But 
when the door was closed in the dun-coloured Bristo-street 
room, where nothing was to be seen from the windows but a 
dusty street, which might have flourished in any vulgar town 
in existence, and bore no trace of those enchantments of Edin- 
burgh windows, which make up for long stairs and steep ascents, 
the young man's prospects were not over-cheerful. He had 
put forth all his powers of mind and warnings of experience 
upon his sermons, but the result had not followed his expect- 
ation. He was still, after a year's interval, the same unem- 
ployed probationer that he had left Kirkcaldy ; his money 
nearly about spent, most likely, and his cogitations not joyful. 
What he was to do was not clearly apparent. That he was 
not to be a teacher again seems distinct enough ; but whether 
he w T as ever to be a preacher on Scottish soil was more than 
uncertain. AVhen he had shut out the world which would not 
have him, the young man returned into his solitude, making 
up his mind, with a grieved surprise which is quite touching 
and grand in its unthought-of humility, that this gift of his, 



THE APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY. 45 

after all his labours, was still not the gift which was to prove 
effectual in his native country. He loved his country with a kind 
of worship, but still, if she would not have him, it was needful 
rather to carry what he could do elsewhere, than to lie idle, 
making no use of those faculties which had to be put to usury 
according to his Master's commandment. The countryman of 
Mungo Park and school-fellow of Hugh Clapperton bethought 
himself. — In all the heathen world which hems Christendom 
about on every side, was there not room for a missionary ac- 
cording to the apostolic model, — a man without scrip or purse, 
entering in to whosoever would receive him, and passing on 
when he had said his message ? A missionary, with Exeter 
Hall expectant behind him, and a due tale of conversions to 
render year after year, Irving never could have been ; but in 
his despondency and discouragement the youthful thought 
which had stirred him long ago, returned, as a kind of comfort 
and hopeful alternative, to his mind. To make his way through 
the continent, a religious wanderer totally unencumbered with 
worldly provisions, it was necessary to know the languages of the 
countries which he had to cross ; and the idea refreshed him in 
the tedium of his long probation. When the arrival of summer 
dispersed his friends, Irving took refuge among his books, 
with thoughts of this knight-errantry and chivalrous enterprise 
swelling above the weariness of sickened hope. It was not 
the modern type of missionary, going, laden with civilization 
and a printing press, to clear his little garden in the wilder- 
ness. It was the red-cross knight in that armour dinted with 
the impress of many battle-fields ; it was the apostolic mes- 
senger, undaunted and solitary, bearing from place to place 
the Grospel for which he could be content to die. The young 
man looked abroad on this prospect, and his heart rose. It 
comforted him when the glow of summer found him, country 
bred and country Wing as he was, still shut up in the shabby 
world of Bristo Street. " Eejected by the living," he is 
recorded to have said, " I conversed with the dead." His eyes 
turned to the east, as was natural. He thought of Persia, it 
is said, where the Malcolms, his countrymen, from the same 
vigorous soil of Annandale, were making themselves illustrious; 
and with grammars and alphabets, with map and history, with 
the silent fathers of all literature standing by, prepared him- 
self for this old world demonstration of his allegiance and his 
faith. 

Some letters which have lately come into my hands, and of 
the existence of which I was unaware at the time the above 
pages were written, lift the veil from this silent period of his 



46 CARLYLE. 

life, and reveal, if not much of his loftier aspirations, at least all 
the hopeful uncertainty, the suspense, sometimes the depres- 
sion, always the warm activity and expectations, naturally be- 
longing to such a pause in the young man's existence. Here 
is a remarkable glimpse into that youthful world, all unaware 
of its own future, and thinking of terminations widely different 
from those which time has brought about, which will show how 
another career, as brilliant and longer than Irving's, took its 
beginning in the same cloudy regions of uncertainty and un- 
success : — 

" Carlyle goes away to-morrow, and Brown the next day. So here 
I am once more on my own resources, except Dixon, who is [better] 
fitted to swell the enjoyment of a joyous than to cheer the solitude of a 
lonely hour. For this Carlyle is better fitted than any one I know. It 
is very odd, indeed, that he should be sent for want of employment to 
the country ; of course, like every man of talent, he has gathered around 
this Patmos many a splendid purpose to be fulfilled, and much improve- 
ment to be wrought out. ' I have the ends of my thoughts to bring 
together, which no one can do in this thoughtless scene. I have my 
views of life to reform, and the whole plan of my conduct to new-model ; 
and into all I have my health to recover. And then once more I shall 
venture my bark upon the waters of this wide realm, and if she cannot 
weather it, I shall steer west, and try the waters of another world. 5 So 
he reasons and resolves ; but surely a worthier destiny awaits him than 
voluntary exile. And for myself, here I am to remain until further 
orders — if from the east I am ready, if from the west I am ready, and if 
from the folk of Fife I am not the less ready. I do not think I shall 

go for the few weeks with Kinloch and I believe, after all, they 

are rather making their use of me than anything else, but I know not ; 
and it is myself, not them, I have to fend for, both temporally and 
spiritually. God knows how ill I do it ; but perhaps in His grace He 
may defend me till the arrival of a day more pregnant to me with hours 
of religious improvement. 

" I had much more to say of the religious meetings I have been at- 
tending, and of the Burgher Synod, and of purposes of a literary kind I 
am conceiving, but lo ! I am at an end with my paper and time, having 
just enough of both to commend me to the love of your household and 
to the fellowship of your prayers. 

" Your most affectionate friend, 

" Edward Irving." 

It was while in this condition, and with contending hopes 
and despairs in his mind, that Irving received a sudden invita- 
tion from Dr A_ndrew Thomson, the minister of St George's, to 
preach in his pulpit. It would be inconsistent with the loved 
principles of Presbyterian parity to distinguish even so eminent 
a man as Dr Andrew Thomson as of the highest clerical rank 
in Edinburgh ; but he really was so, in as far as noble talent, a 



PREACHES IN ST GEORGE^, EDINBURGH. 47 

brilliant and distinct character, and — not least important — a 
church in the most fashionable quarter, could make him. "With 
the exception of Dr Chalmers, he was perhaps the first man of 
his generation then in the Church of Scotland ; so that the in- 
vitation itself was a compliment to the neglected probationer. 
But the request conveyed also an intimation that Dr Chalmers 
was to be present, and that he was then in search of an assist- 
ant in the splendid labours he was beginning in Glasgow. This 
invitation naturally changed the current of Irving' s thoughts. 
It turned him back from his plans of apostolical wandering, as 
well as from the anxious efforts of his friends to procure pupils 
who might advance his interests, and placed before him the 
most desirable opening to his real profession which he could 
possibly light upon. That path which should lead him to his 
chosen work, at home, in the country of his kindred, his love, 
and his early affections, was dearer to him than even that aus- 
tere martyr-path which it was in his heart to follow if need 
was. He went to St George's with a new impulse of expecta- 
tion, and preached, there can be little doubt, that one of his 
sermons which he thought most satisfactory. He describes 
this event to Mr Martin as follows, with a frankness of youth- 
ful pleasure, and at the same time a little transparent assump- 
tion of indifference as to the result, in a letter dated the 2nd 
August, 1819 :— 

11 I preached Sunday week in St George's before Andrew Thomson 
and Dr Chalmers, with general, indeed, so far as I have heard, universal 
approbation. Andrew said for certain ' It was the production of no 
ordinary mind ; ' and how Dr Chalmers expressed his approbation I do 
not know, for I never put myself about to learn these things, as you 
know. I am pleased with this, perhaps more so than I ought to be, if 
I were as spiritually-minded as I should be — but there is a reason for 
it. To you yet behind the curtain, la voila ! I believe it was a sort of 
pious and charitable plot to let Dr C. hear me, previous to his making 
inquiries about me as fit for his assistant. Whether he is making them 
now he has heard me, and where he is making them, I do not know. 
For though few people can fight the battle of preferment without pre- 
occupying the ground, &c, I would wish to be one of that few. Full 
well I know it is impossible without His aid who has planned the field 
and who guides the weapons, more unerringly than Homer's Apollo, 
and inspirits the busy champions ; and that I am not industrious in pro- 
curing. Oh, do you and all who wish me well, give me the only favour 
I ask, — the favour of your prayers." 

The important moment, however, passed, and the young 
man returned unsatisfied to his lonely apartments. He waited 
there for some time in blank, discouraging silence ; then con- 



48 SUSPENSE. 

eluded that nothing was to come of it, and that this once again 
his longing hope to find somebody who understood him and 
saw what he aimed at, was to he disappointed. This last failure 
seems to have given the intolerable touch to all his previous dis- 
couragements. He got up disgusted from that dull probation 
which showed him only how effectually all the gates of actual 
life and labour were barred against him. Even at that discon- 
solate moment he could still find time to write to his pupil and 
future sister-in-law about an Italian dictionary which he had 
undertaken to procure for her. Then he packed up his books 
and boxes, and sent them off to his father's house in Annan ; 
but, probably desirous of some interval to prepare himself for 
that farewell which he intended, went himself to Greenock, 
meaning to travel from thence by some of the coasting vessels 
which called at the little ports on the Ayrshire and Galloway 
coast. Sick at heart, and buried in his own thoughts, he took 
the wrong boat, and was obliged to come ashore again. At 
that moment another steamer was in all the bustle of departure. 
Struck with a sudden caprice, as people often are in such a 
restless condition of mind and feeling, Irving resolved, in his 
half- desperation and momentary recklessness, to take the first 
which left the quay, and leaping listlessly into this, found it 
Irish, and bound for Belfast. The voyage was accomplished 
in safety, but not without an adventure in the end. Some no- 
table crime had been perpetrated in Ireland about that time, 
the doer of which was still at large, filling the minds of the 
people with dreams of capture, and suspicions of every stranger. 
Of all the strangers entering that port of Belfast, perhaps there 
was no one so remarkable as this tall Scotchman, with his 
knapsack and slender belongings, his extraordinarily powerful 
frame, and his total ignorance of the place, who was travelling 
without any feasible motive or object. The excited authorities 
found the circumstances so remarkable, that they laid sus- 
picious hands upon the singular stranger, who was only freed 
from their surveillance by applying to the Presbyterian minister, 
the Bev. Mr Hanna, who liberated his captive brother and 
took him home with Irish frankness. That visit was a jubilee 
for the children of the house. Black melancholy and disgust 
had fled before the breezes at sea, and the amusing but embar- 
rasing contretemps on land ; and Irving' s heart, always open to 
children, expanded at once for the amusement of the children 
of that house. One of those boys was the Bev. Dr Hanna of 
Edinburgh, the biographer and son-in-law of Chalmers, who, 
at the distance of so many years, remembers the stories of the 



INVITATION TO GLASGOW. 49 

stranger thus suddenly brought to the fireside, and his genial, 
cordial presence which charmed the house. 

After this the young man wandered over the north of Ire- 
land, as he had often wandered over the congenial districts of 
his own country, for some weeks ; pursuing the system he had 
learned to adopt at home, — walking as the crow flies, finding 
lodging and shelter in the wayside cottages, sharing the potato 
and the milk which formed the peasant's meal. A singular 
journey ; performed in primitive hardship, fatigue, and brotherly 
kindness ; out of the reach of civilized persons or conventional 
necessities ; undertaken out of pure caprice, the evident sudden 
impulse of letting things go as they would ; and persevered in 
with something of the same abandon and determined abstraction 
of himself from all the disgusts and disappointments of life. 
Neither letters nor tokens of his existence seem to have come 
out of this temporary flight and banishment. He had escaped 
for the moment from those momentous questions which shortly 
must be faced and resolved. Presently it would be necessary 
to go back, to make the last preparations, to take the decisive 
steps, and say the farewells. He fairly ran away from it for a 
moment's breathing-time, and took refuge in the rude unknown 
life of the Irish cabins ; — a thing which most people have somehow 
done, or at least attempted to do, at the crisis of their lives. 

When he re-emerged out of this refreshing blank, and 
came to the common world again, where letters and ordinary 
appeals of life were awaiting him, he found a bulky enclosure 
from his father, in the Coleraine post-office. Gavin Irving 
wrote, in explanation of his double letter (for postage was no 
trifle in those days), that he would have copied the enclosed 
if he could have read it ; but not being able to make out a 
word, was compelled to send it on for his son's own inspection. 
This enclosure was from Dr Chalmers, inviting Irving to go to 
Glasgow ; but the date was some weeks back, and the invita- 
tion was by no means distinct as to the object for which he 
was wanted. It was enough, however, to stir the reviving 
heart of the young giant, whom his fall, and contact with 
kindly mother earth, had refreshed and re-invigorated. He 
set out without loss of time for Glasgow, but only to find Dr 
Chalmers absent, and once more to be plunged into the linger- 
ing pangs of suspense. 

"While waiting the Doctor's return, Irving again reported 
himself and his new expectations to his friends in Kirkcaldy. 

" Glasgow, 1st September, 1819. 

tc You see I am once more in Scotland ; and how I came to have found 
my way to the same place I started from, you shall now learn. On 

4 



50 1KTEREST IN CHURCH AFFAIRS. 

Friday last arrived at Coleraine a letter from Dr Chalmers, pressing 
me to meet him in Edinburgh on the 30th, or in Glasgow the 31st Aug. 
So here I arrived, after a very tempestuous passage in the Rob Roy ; 
and upon' calling on the Doctor, I find he is still in Anstruther, at 
which place he proposes remaining awhile longer than he anticipated, 
and requests to have a few days of me there. So, butfor another cir- 
cumstance, you might have seen me posting through Kirkcaldy to An- 
ster, the famed in song. That circumstance is Mrs Chalmers's ill- 
health, of which he will be more particularly informed than he is at 
present by this post ; and then Miss Pratt tells me there is no doubt 
he will return post-haste, as all good husbands ought. Here, then, I 
am, a very sorry sight, I can assure you. You may remember how dis- 
abled in my rigging I was in the Kingdom ; * conceive me, then, to 
have wandered a whole fortnight among the ragged sons of St Patrick, 
to have scrambled about the Giant's Causeway, and crossed the Chan- 
nel twice, and sailed in fish-boats and pleasure-boats, and driven gigs 
and jaunting-cars, and never once condescended to ask the aid of a 
tailor's needle. Think of this, and figure what I mast be now. But I 
have just been ordering a refit from stem to stern, and shall by to- 
morrow be able to appear amongst the best of them ; and you know 
the Glasgow bodies ken fu' weel it's merely impossible to carry about 
with ane a' the comforts of the Sa't Market at ane's tail, or a' the com- 
forts of Bond Street either. I shall certainly now remain till I have seen 
and finally determined with Dr Chalmers ; for my time is so short that if 
I get home without a finale of one kind or other, it will interfere with the 
department of my foreign affairs, which imperiously call for attention." 

The letter, which begins thus, is filled up, to the length of 
five long pages, by an account of the organization of the Synod 
of Ulster, and of a case of discipline which had just occurred in 
it, on which, on behalf of a friend at Coleraine, the traveller 
was anxious to consult the experience of the minister of Kirk- 
caldy. In respect to his own prospects, Irving' s suspense was 
now speedily terminated. Dr Chalmers returned, and at once 
proposed to him to become bis assistant in St John's. The 
solace to the young man's discouraged mind must have been 
unspeakable. Here, at last, was one man who understood the 
unacceptable probationer, and perceived in him that faculty 
which he himself discerned dimly and still hoped in — troubled, 
but not convinced by the general disbelief. To have his gift 
recognized by another mind was new life to Irving ; and such 
a mind! the generous intelligence of the first of Scotch 
preachers. But with Presbyterian scrupulosity, in the midst 
of his eagerness, Irving hung back still. He could not submit 
to be "intruded upon" the people by the mere will of the in- 
cumbent, and would not receive even that grateful distinction, 
if he continued as distasteful as he had hitherto found himself. 

* The Kingdom of Fife, fondly so called by its affectionate population. 






GLASGOW. 51 

He was not confident of his prospects even when backed by 
the powerful encouragement of Dr Chalmers. " I will preach to 
them if you think fit," he is reported to have said ; " but if 
they bear with my preaching, they will be the first people who 
have borne with it ! " In this spirit, with the unconscious hu- 
mility of a child, sorry not to satisfy his judges, but confessing 
the failure which he scarcely could understand, he preached his 
first sermon to the fastidious congregation in St John's. This 
was in October, 1819. " He was generally well liked, but some 
people thought him rather flowery. However, they were satisfied 
that he must be a good preacher, since Dr Chalmers had chosen 
him," says a contemporary witness. It was thus with little 
confidence on his own part, and somewhat careless indulgence 
on the part of the people, who were already in possesion of the 
highest preaching of the time, that Irving opened his mouth at 
last, and began his natural career. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

GLASGOW. 



It was in October, 1819, that Irving began his work in 
Glasgow — the first real work iu his own profession which had 
opened to him. He was then in the full strength of early 
manhood, seven-and-twenty, the " Scottish uncelebrated Ir- 
ving," whom his great countryman regretfully commemorates. 
His remarkable appearance seems, in the first place, to have 
impressed everybody. A lady, who was then a member of Dr 
Chalmers's church, and who had access to the immediate circle 
surrounding him, tells how she herself, on one occasion, being 
particularly eu gaged in some domestic duties, had given orders 
to her servants not to admit any visitors. She was interrupted 
in her occupation, however, notwithstanding this order, by the 
entrance of one of her maids, in a state of high excitement and 
curiosity. " Mem ! " burst forth the girl, " there's a wonder- 
ful grand gentleman called : I couldna say you were engaged 
to him. I think he maun be a Highland Chief! " — " That Mr 
Irving ! " exclaimed another individual of less elevated and 
poetical conceptions — " That Dr Chalmers's helper ! I took him 
for a cavalry officer ! " " Do you know, Doctor," said a third, 
addressing Chalmers himself, " what things people are saying 
about your new assistant ? They say he's like a brigand chief." 



52 dr chalmehs's helper. 

" "Well, well," said Dr Chalmers, "with a smile, " whatever 
they say, they never think him like anything but a leader of 
men." Such was the impression he produced upon the little 
mercantile-ecclesiastical world of Glasgow. There, as every- 
where, people were instinctively suspicious of this strange 
unconventional figure — did not know what to make of the 
natural grandeur about him — the lofty fashion of speech into 
which he had already fallen, and which seems to have been en- 
tirely appropriate to the garb and aspect in which nature had 
clothed him. But he found warm friends here, as everywhere, 
and by means of all his qualities, mental and bodily, his frank- 
ness and warmth, and habit of making himself the friend of 
the humblest individual he encountered, his splendid person 
and stately manners, took the hearts of the poor by storm. 
They are now dying out of those closes and wynds of Glasgow, 
who remember Irving as Dr Chalmers's helper ; but there 
still lingers here and there a recollection of that kindliest 
genial visitor. Chalmers himself, though a man of the warmest 
humanity, had at all times a certain abstract intentness about 
him, which must have altered the character of individual kind- 
ness as coming from his hands. His parishioners were to 
him emphatically his parishioners, the " body " (not vile, 
perhaps ; but still more profoundly important for the expe- 
riment's sake than for its own) upon which one of the most 
magnificent of experiments was to be tried. But to Irving 
they were the Johns and Sandies, the Campbells and Macalis- 
ters, — the human neighbours who were of his personal ac- 
quaintance and individually interesting to himself. Such a 
distinction makes itself knowm involuntarily. The position 
he held was one completely secondary and auxiliary, not even 
answering to that of a curate ; for he was still only a proba- 
tioner, unordained, without any rights in the Church except 
the license to preach, which was his sole qualification. He 
was not responsible for any part of the working of that huge 
machinery which Dr Chalmers bore up on his Herculean 
shoulders, and which naturally collapsed when his mighty vital 
force was withdrawn. The " helper " went about more lightly, 
unburdened by social economy ; and gained for himself, among 
the poor people whom it was his daily work to visit, the place 
of an undoubted and much-prized friend. 

Glasgow was at this period in a very disturbed and trou- 
blous condition. "Want of work and want of food had wrought 
their natural social effect upon the industrious classes ; and 
the eyes of the hungry weavers and cotton-spinners were turned 
with spasmodic anxiety to those wild political quack remedies, 



SENTIMENTS. 53 

the inefficacy of which no amount of experience will ever 
make clear to people in similar circumstances. The entire 
country was in a dangerous mood; palpitating throughout 
with deep-seated complaint and grievance, to which the starv- 
ing revolutionaries in such towns as Glasgow acted only as a 
kind of safety-valve, preventing a worse explosion. The dis- 
content was drawing towards its climax when Irving received 
his appointment as assistant to the minister of St John's. In 
such a large poor parish he encountered on all sides the 
mutterings of the popular storm. Chalmers, always liberal 
and statesmanlike, saw the real grievance, which finally la- 
boured and struggled, through the contest of years, into that 
full redress and establishment of popular rights which seems 
to make any such crisis impossible now. But Irving's mind 
was of a different construction. He was one of those men of 
inconsistent politics, governed at once by prejudices and sym- 
pathies, whose " attitude " it is impossible to foretell ; and of 
whom one can only predict that their political opinions will 
take the colour given by their heart ; and that the side most 
strongly and feelingly set forth before them will undoubtedly 
carry the day. His nature was profoundly conservative ; and 
yet the boldest innovation might have secured his devoted 
support, had it approved itself to his individual thoughts. His 
political opinions, indeed, seem to have been such as are com- 
mon to literary men, artists, and women, entirely unconnected 
with politics, and who only now and then find themselves 
sufficiently interested to inform themselves upon public mat- 
ters. Accordingly, he appears in after-life in strong opposition 
to every measure known as liberal ; while in Glasgow, with 
those poor revolutionary weavers round him on every side, his 
heart convincing him of their miseries and despair, and his 
profound trust, not in human nature, but in the human crea- 
tures known to himself, persuading him that no harm could 
come from their hands, he stands perfectly calm and friendly 
amid the panic, disdaining to fear. That the crisis was an 
alarming one everybody allows. Nothing less than the horrors 
of the French Revolution — battle and murder and sudden 
death — floated before the terror-stricken eyes of all who had 
anything to lose. "Whig Jeffrey, a non-alarmist and (in 
moderation) friend of the people, declares, solemnly, that " if 
the complaints of the people are repressed with insults and 
menaces— if no step is taken to relieve their distresses and 
redress their real and undeniable grievances — if the whole 
mass of their complaints, reasonable and unreasonable, are to 
be treated as seditious and audacious, and to meet with no 



54 STATE OF THE COUNTRY IN GENERAL. 

other answer than preparations to put them down by force, 
then indeed we may soon have a civil war among us — and a 
civil war of a character far more deplorable and atrocious than 
was ever known in this land — a war of the rich against the 
poor ; of the Government against the body of the people ; of 
the soldiery against the great bulk of the labouring classes ; 
a war which can never be followed by any cordial or secure 
peace ; and which must end, or rather begin, with the final and 
complete subversion of those liberties and that constitution 
which has hitherto been our pride, our treasure, and our^ sup- 
port and consolation under all other calamities." 

It was a conjunction of many troubles : foremost among 
which was that sharp touch of starvation which makes men 
desperate ; that "Want — most pertinacious and maddest of all 
revolutionaries, who never fails to revenge bitterly the careless- 
ness which lets him enter our well-defended doors, — he was 
there, wolfish and seditious, in Glasgow in the winter of 1819, 
plotting pikes and risings, with wild dreams of that legislation, 
never yet found out, which is to make a paradise of earth ; 
dreams and plots which were to blurt out, so far as Scotland 
was concerned, in the dismal little tragi-comedy of Bonnymuir 
some months later, and there be made a melancholy end of. 
But while everybody else was prophesying horrors, it is thus 
that Irving, with tender domestic prefaces of kindness and 
congratulation, writes to his brother-in-law, Mr. Fergusson, a 
few months after his arrival in Glasgow. 

" You will look for Glasgow intelligence, and truly I can neither get 
nor give any. If I should report from my daily ministrations among 
the poorest class and the worst reported -of class of our population, I 
should deliver an opinion so unfavourable as it would be hardly safe for 
myself to deliver, lest I should be held a radical likewise. Now the 
truth is, I have visited in about three hundred families, and have* met 
with the kindest welcome and entertainment and invitations. Nay, 
more, I have entered on the tender subject of their present sufferings, 
in which they are held so ferocious, and have found them in general 
both able and willing to entertain the religious lesson and improvement 
arising out of it. This may arise from the way of setting it forth, 
which I endeavour to make with the utmost tenderness and feeling, as 
well is due when you see people in the midst of nakedness and starva- 
tion. Yet we are armed against them to the teeth ; and the alarm took 
so generally that, for all my convictions and knowledge, I had engaged 
a horse-pistol to stand out in defence of my own castle like a true 
Englishman ! But the storm seems over-driven, although this morning, 
even, there was a summons to the sharp-shooters by break of day, and 
all the soldiers to arms in the barracks. Nobody knows a whit, and 
everybody fears a deal. The common ignorance is only surpassed by 
the common alarm, and that you know is the most agitating of all 



THE CALTON WEAVERS. 55 

alarms. But from Monday to Saturday I am going amongst them with- 
out the slightest apprehension ; but perhaps I may be convinced by 
point of pike some day, which I pray may be averted for his sake that 
should hold it. This is not braggadocio, but Christian (feeling) ; for 
the blood of the innocent always stains most deeply the hand that sheds 
it .... I hope my father and you won't forget your Glasgow 
jaunt. I will introduce you to some of our Calton weavers, now so 
dreaded, whom Jeffrey the reviewer calls the finest specimens of the 
human intellect he has met with ... I commend to your affection 
my dear mother, from whom I have had a most affectionate. letter ; and 
George, who will prove a credit, I trust, to such two gifted masters as 
yourself and your humble servant .... To all others, my good 
and kind friends, commend your affectionate brother, 

"Edward Irving." 

It was thus that Irving judged of the dangerous masses, 
who seemed to other eyes so ripe for mischief; and it is 
characteristic to observe the difference between the manner in 
which this opinion is expressed, and Dr Chalmers's deliverance 
on the same subject, contained in his letters to Wilberforce. 
There the clear-sighted Scotch legislator, whom his profession 
bounded to a parish, makes a stride of twenty years to the 
conclusions of another generation, and lays his hand broadly 
upon that principle which has now been received among the 
standard principles of English government. " From -my ex- 
tensive minglings with the people," says Dr Chalmers, " I am 
quite confident in affirming the power of another expedient 
(that is, besides the repeal of certain specified taxes) to be 
such, that it would operate with all the quickness and effect of 
a charm in lulling their agitated spirits : I mean the repeal of 
the Corn Bill. I have ever been in the habit of disliking the 
interference of the legislature in matters of trade, saviDg for 
the purpose of a revenue." Irving has no theories of cure 
on hand. His thoughts do not embrace the polity of nations. 
He has" not contemplated that troubled sea to divine what 
secret current it is which heaves its billows into storm. He 
goes down among the crowds which are made of flesh and 
blood ; he stands among them and calls out with courageous 
tender voice that they are all men like others ; men trustful 
and cordial ; kind to himself, open to kindness ; whom it be- 
hoves their neighbours to treat, not with the cruelty of fear, 
but, "with tenderness and feeling, as well is due" he adds 
with manly and touching simplicity, " when you see people in 
the midst of nakedness and starvation" A greater contrast in 
agreement could scarcely be. 

This Glasgow parish had come to singular fortune at that 
moment. After much labour and many exertions, Chalmers, 



56 THE PARISH OF ST JOHN. 

already the greatest preacher and most eminent man in the 
entire Scotch establishment, had got himself translated from 
the Tron Church, which was his first charge in Glasgow — 
solely in order to carry out those social plans which are the 
greatest distinctive feature of his life — to St John's. His 
theory is well known ; but as theories which are well known 
are apt enough to glide into vagueness from that very reason, 
it may not be amiss to repeat, in the simplest manner, what it 
was. The truth was simply that he had been born, like other 
men of his generation, into a primitive Scotland, comparatively 
little affected by English usages and manners — a self-sup- 
porting, independent nation, ignorant of poor-laws and work- 
houses, and full of strenuous hatred to all such hateful 
charities. During all the centuries of Presbyterianism, " the 
plate," or weekly offering made at the door of the church on 
entering, had furnished the parochial revenue of charity ; and 
upon this national and universal provision for the poor the 
statesman eye of Chalmers fixed with characteristic intentness. 
Like other men of the greatest type, he was unable to believe 
that what he might do was yet impossible to others. Eesolute 
to show all Scotland and the world that the Church's ancient 
primitive provision could yet meet all increased modern emer- 
gencies, and able from his high position and influence to bring, 
half by coercion of moral force, half by persuasion, the Glas- 
gow magistrates to accept his terms, he made it a condition of 
his remaining among them that this parish of St John's, one 
of the largest, poorest, and most degraded in the town, should 
be handed over to him in undisturbed possession, swept clean 
of all poor-rates, workhouses, and public parish aid. He did 
not demand the criminal supervision and power of the sword 
certainly ; though at this distance of time, and to English 
readers, the one might seem almost as reasonable as the other ; 
but he secured his terms with the puzzled civic functionaries, 
who half believed in him. In this parish Chalmers set up the 
most surprising, splendid autocracy that has ever been at- 
tempted — an autocracy solely directed to the benefit of that 
little world of people in the most unlovely portion of Glasgow. 
He was no sooner established in his new dominion than he 
issued imperial orders for a census, and made one in true royal 
fashion. There were 10,804 souls. The condition in life of most 
among them was that of weavers, labourers, and factory-workers. 
About one family in thirty -three kept a servant, and in some parts 
of the district this point of domestic luxury was even more rare. 
Bad times, failure of work, and all the casualties of accident 
and disease would, according to ordinary calculations, leave a 



THE SHOEMAKER. 57 

large margin of inevitable pauperism in such a district. But 
the minister-autocrat had sworn that pauperism was to be no 
longer, and he made good his word. For three brilliant 
years " the plate " not only supplied all the w r ants of the 
poor in the parish, but did large service besides in the erection 
of schools ; and for thirteen years, as long as the machinery 
originated by the wonderful imperious vitality of this great man 
could go on without a new impulse, its success continued as 
perfect as it was extraordinary. This seems to me the highest 
and most wonderful victory of Chalmers's life. It is unique in 
modern annals — a bold return, out of the heart of all those 
evils of extreme civilization which crush the poor, into that 
primitive life when neighbour helped neighbour and friend 
stood by friend. What an ideal despot, grand patriot autocrat, 
or irresponsible vizier, that Scotch minister would have made ! 
In this system of things, Irving took his place in perfect 
accord, but not resemblance. Statesmanship was not in him ; 
but admiration and loyal service were of his very essence. 
"Without any ulterior views, he visited those " three hundred 
families," — won their confidence and friendship, in most cases 
readily enough ; and when that was not the case, took them 
captive by innocent wiles and premeditation. One such case, 
which must have been a remarkable one, is told in so many 
different versions, that it is difficult to decide which is the true 
one. A certain shoemaker, radical and infidel, was among the 
number of those under Irving's special care ; a home-workman 
of course, always present, silent, with his back turned upon the 
visitors, and refusing any communication except a sullen humph 
of implied criticism, while his trembling wife made her depre- 
cating curtsy in the foreground. The way in which this in- 
tractable individual was finally won over, is attributed by some 
tellers of the story to a sudden happy inspiration on Irving's 
part ; but, by others, to plot and intention. Approaching the 
bench one day, the visitor took up a piece of patent leather, 
then a recent invention, and remarked upon it in somewhat 
skilled terms. The shoemaker went on with redoubled indus- 
try at his work ; but at last, roused and exasperated by the 
speech and pretence of knowledge, demanded, in great contempt, 
but without raising his eyes, " What do ye ken about leather ? " 
This was just the opportunity his assailant wanted ; for Irving, 
though a minister and a scholar, was a tanner's son, and could 
discourse learnedly upon that material. Gradually interested 
and mollified, the cobbler slackened work, and listened while his 
visitor described some process of making shoes by machinery, 
which he had carefully got up for the purpose. At last the 



58 " HE KENS ABOUT LEATHER." 

shoemaker so far forgot his caution as to suspend his work 
altogether, and lift his eyes to the great figure stooping over 
his bench. The conversation went on with increased vigour 
after this, till finally the recusant threw down his arms. " Od, 
you're a decent kind o' fellow ! — do you preach ? " said the 
vanquished, curious to know more of his victor. The advantage 
was discreetly, but not too hotly pursued ; and on the follow- 
ing Sunday the rebel made a defiant, shy appearance at church. 
Next day Irving encountered him in the savoury G-allowgate, 
and hailed him as a friend. Walking beside him in natural 
talk, the tall probationerlaid his handupon the shirt-sleeve of the 
shrunken sedentary workman, and marched by his side along the 
well-frequented street. By the time they had reached the end 
of their mutual way not a spark of resistance was left in the 
shoemaker. His children henceforward went to school ; his 
deprecating wife went to the kirk in peace. He himself ac- 
quired that suit of Sunday " blacks " so dear to the heart of the 
poor Scotchman, and became a church-goer and respectable 
member of society ; while his acknowledgment of his con- 
queror was conveyed with characteristic reticence, and conceal- 
ment of all deeper feeling, in the self-excusing pretence — "He's 
a sensible man, yon ; he kens about leather ? " 

The preacher who knew about leather had, however, in con- 
junction with that cordiality which won the shoemaker's heart, 
a solemnity and apostolic demeanour which might have looked 
like affectation in another man, and has, indeed, been called 
affectation even in Irving by those who did not know him ; 
though never by any man who did. Probably his long, silent 
contemplation of that solitary mission which he had set his 
heart on, had made him frame his very manner and address ac- 
cording to apostolic rule. When he entered those sombre 
apartments in the G-allowgate, it was with the salutation, " Peace 
be to this house," with which he might have entered a Persian 
palace or desert tent. " It was very peculiar, a thing that no- 
body else did," says a simple-minded member of Dr Chalmers's 
agency ; " it was impossible not to remark it, out of the way as 
it was ; but there was not one of the agency could make an 
objection to it. It took the people's attention wonderfully." 
A certain solemn atmosphere entered with that lofty figure, 
speaking, in matchless harmony of voice, its " Peace be to this 
house." To be prayed for, sometimes, edifyingly, sometimes 
tediously, was not uncommon to the Glasgow poor ; but to be 
blessed was a novelty to them. Perhaps if the idea had been 
pursued into the depths of their minds, these Presbyterians, all 
retaining something of ecclesiastical knowledge, however little 



INTERCOURSE WITH THE POOR. 59 

religion they might have, would have been disposed to deny the 
right of any man to assume that priestly power of blessing. 
Irving, however, did not enter into any discussion of the sub- 
ject. It was his habitual practice ; and the agency, puzzled 
and a little awed, " could not make an objection to it." He did 
still more than this. He laid his hands upon the heads of the 
children, and pronounced, with imposing solemnity, the ancient 
benediction, " The Lord bless thee and keep thee," over each 
of them — a practice startling to Scotch ears, but acquiesced in 
involuntarily as natural to the man who, all solitary and indi- 
vidual in picturesque homely grandeur, went to and fro among 
them. So grave a preface did not detract from the entire 
heartiness with which he entered into the concerns of the 
household ; an intercourse which he himself describes with 
touching simplicity in his farewell sermon addressed to the 
people of St John's. It is impossible to give any account of 
this part of his work half so true or so affecting as is conveyed 
thus, in his own words : — 

" Oh, how my heart rejoices to recur to the hours I have sitten 
under the roofs of the people, and been made a partaker of their confi- 
dence, and a witness of the hardships they had to endure. In the scan- 
tiest and perhaps worst times with which this manufacturing city hath 
ever been pressed, it was my almost daily habit to make a round of their 
families, and uphold, what in me lay, the declining cause of God. There 
have I sitten with little silver or gold of my own to bestow, with little 
command over the charity of others, and heard the various narratives of 
hardship — narratives uttered for the most part with modesty and 
patience ; oftener drawn forth with difficulty than obtruded on your 
ear ; — their wants, their misfortunes, their ill-requited labour, their 
hopes vanishing, their families dispersing in search of better habitations, 
the Scottish economy of their homes giving way before encroaching ne- 
cessity ; debt rather than saving their condition ; bread and water their 
scanty fare ; hard and ungrateful labour the portion of their house. All 
this have I often seen and listened to within naked walls ; the witness, 
oft the partaker, of their miserable cheer ; with little or no means to 
relieve. Yet be it known, to the glory of God and the credit of the 
poor, and the encouragement of tender-hearted Christians, that such 
application to the heart's ailments is there in our religion, and such a 
hold in its promises, and such a pith of endurance in its noble examples, 
that when set forth by one inexperienced tongue, with soft words and 
kindly tones, they did never fail to drain the heart of the sourness that 
calamity engenders, and sweeten it with the balm of resignation— often 
enlarge it with cheerful hope, sometimes swell it high with the rejoicings 
of a Christian triumph." 

A more affecting picture of the position of the Christian 
visitor, "with little or no means to relieve," except by sym- 



60 A LEGACY. 

pathy, and testimony to the consolatory uses of the gospel, was 
never made. There does not exist human misery under the 
sun which would not be cheered and softened by such ministra- 
tions. He who was "often the partaker of their miserable 
cheer," who blessed the poor meal and blessed the house, and 
linked himself to the sufferers by such half- sacramental break- 
ing of the bread of sorrow, could never fail to find his way into 
their hearts. He was not always, however, without silver or 
gold of his own to bestow. A little legacy was left him just 
at the time he describes, a legacy of some sum between thirty 
and a hundred pounds, — for tradition has come to be doubtful 
as to the amount. Such a little windfall one might suppose 
would have been very acceptable to Dr Chalmers's helper ; 
and so it was ; but after a fashion entirely his own. Irving 
melted his legacy into the one-pound notes current in Scotland, 
deposited them in his desk, and every morning, as long as they 
lasted, put one into his pocket when he went out to his visita- 
tions. The legacy lasted just as many days as it was pounds 
in value, and doubtless produced as much pleasure to its owner 
as ever was purchased by money. "What Dr Chalmers said to 
this barefaced alms-giving, in the very midst of his social 
economy, I cannot tell. As to its destination nobody but 
Irving was any the wiser. It melted into gleams of comfort, 
transitory but precious ; and he who shared the hard and scanty 
bread on the poor man's table, could share the better meal 
when it was in his power to bestow it. This was Irving's idea 
of his office and functions among the poor. He had learned it 
theoretically from no other teacher than his own heart. But 
he had learned the practice of it, which so many fain would 
acquire without knowing how, in those primitive journeys of 
his, where his lodgings were found in the cot-house and cabin ; 
and it was his pleasure to make himself as acceptable a guest 
as if the potato or porridge had been festive dainties, and his 
entertainers lords and princes. Such a gift of brotherhood, 
however, is as rare as any gift of genius. Irving was unique 
in it among his contemporaries ; and has had but few equals in 
any time. 

Matters, however, had not changed much up to this period 
in respect to his preaching. Friends who accompanied him to 
church when it was his turn to conduct the services, tell, as a 
very common incident, that the preacher going in was met by 
groups coming out with disappointed looks, complaining, as the 
reason of their departure, that " it's no himseV the day." 
Nothing better was to be looked for when himseV was such a 
man as Chalmers ; and if his assistant felt at all sore on the 



TWO PRESBYTERS. 61 

subject, his mortification must have "been much allayed by the 
unrivalled gifts of his great colleague. There is, however, no 
sign of soreness or mortification in him. A brilliant vision of 
what he yet might attain had flickered before his eyes all 
through his probation, as is apparent by many tokens, but he 
never disguised from himself his failure in popularity. He 
smiled to his companions, not without an appreciation of the 
joke, when the good people came out of the church door because 
it was "no himsel'." He did not forget what he had said, that 
if this people bore with him, they were the first who ever 
would ; nor did he hesitate to repeat that " this congregation 
is almost the first in which our preaching was tolerated," and 
even that still, " we know, on the other hand, that our imper- 
fections have not been hid from your eyes." Tet this unpo- 
pularity, admitted with frankness so unusual, and perhaps ex- 
cessive, was by no means universal. "Within the great assembly 
who venerated Dr Chalmers was a smaller circle who looked 
upon Irving with all the enthusiastic admiration naturally 
given to a man whose merits the admirer himself has been the 
first to find out. " Irving' s preaching," said Dr Chalmers, 
evidently not w r ith any very great admiration of it, " is like 
Italian music, appreciated only by connoisseurs." But he does 
not hesitate to compare the influence of his assistant, on another 
and more cordial occasion, to a special magnetic spell, which 
went to the very hearts of those susceptible to it, though it fell 
blank upon the unimpressionable multitude. On the whole, 
Dr Chalmers's opinion of him is the opinion of one who only 
half understands, and does not more than half sympathize with, 
a character much less broad, but in some respects more elevated 
than his own. A certain impatience flashes into the judgment. 
The statesman and philosopher watches the poet-enthusiast 
with a doubtful, troubled, half-amused, half-sad perplexity ; — 
likes him, yet does not know what he would be at ; — is embar- 
rassed by his warm love, praise, and gratitude ; — vexed to see 
him commit himself ; — impatient of what he himself thinks cre- 
dulity, vanity, waste of power ; but never without a sober, 
regretful affection for the bright, unsteady light that could not 
be persuaded to shine only in its proper lantern. This sort of 
admiring, indulgent, affectionate half-comprehension is apparent 
throughout the whole intercourse of these two great men. That 
Chalmers was the greater intellect of the two, I do not attempt 
to question ; nor yet that he was in all practical matters the 
more eminent and serviceable man ; but that Irving had instinct- 
ive comprehensions and graces which went high over the head 



62 HOLIDAY ADVENTURES. 

of his great contemporary, seems to me as evident as the other 
conclusion. 

A light quite peculiar and characteristic falls upon Glasgow 
by means of these two figures, — Chalmers, with a certain sweep 
and wind of action always about him, rushing on impetuous, at 
the height of his influence, legislating for his parish in bold in- 
dependence, perhaps the only real Autocrat of his day 5 — Irving, 
almost loitering about the unlovely streets, open to all the in- 
dividual interests thereabouts ; learned in the names, the stories, 
the peculiarities of his three hundred families ; still secondary, 
dependent, dallying with dreams of a time when he should be 
neither, of a Utopia all his own ; not influential at all as yet, 
only remarkable ; noted on the streets, noted in the houses he 
frequented, an out-of-the-way, incomprehensible man, whose 
future fortune it was not safe to foretell. 

The year after his arrival in Glasgow he made another visit 
to Ireland, which was attended by one amusing result, upon 
which his friends often rallied him. He had made an appoint- 
ment with a young Glasgow friend to meet him at Annan, in 
his father's house, with the idea of guiding the stranger through 
those moors and mosses of Dumfriesshire which were so dear 
and well known to himself. But while his friend kept the 
appointment carefully, Irving, seduced by the pleasures of his 
ramble, or induced, as appears from a letter, to lengthen it out 
by a little incursion into England from Liverpool, forgot all 
about it. The accommodations of Gavin Irving's house at 
Annan were limited ; and though there was no limit to Mrs 
Irving's motherly hospitality, it was not easy to entertain the 
unknown guest. The youngest of the handsome sisters had to 
exert herself in this emergency. She showed the young stranger 
the way to the waterside, and all the modest beauties of the 
little town. The young man did not miss his friend, nor was 
any way impatient for Edward's arrival ; and when the truant 
did come, at the end of a fortnight, he was called upon to greet 
the stranger, whom he had himself sent to Annan, as his sister's 
affianced husband — an astonishing but very happy conclusion, 
as it turned out, to his own carelessness. 

At another holiday-time Irving accompanied a member of 
his congregation in some half-pleasure, half-business excursion 
in a gig. During this journey the pair were about to drive 
down a steep descent, when Irving, whose skill as a driver was 
not great, managed to secure the reins, and accomplished the 
descent at so amazing a pace that several of a little party of 
soldiers, who were crossing a bridge at the foot of the hill, 
were driven into the stream by the vehemence of the unex- 



SIMPLICITY OF HEART. 63 

pected charge. Some little distance further on, the gig and 
the travellers paused at a roadside inn, into the public room of 
which entered, after a while, several of these soldiers. Two of 
them regarded with whispered conferences the driver of the 
gig ; and when an opportunity of conversation offered, one of 
the two addressed Irving. " This man," said the skilful Scotch 
conversationalist, " thinks he's the wisest man in a' the regi- 
ment. What do ye think, sir ? He says you're the great Dr 
Chalmers." "And do you really think," asked Irving, with an 
appeal to the candour of this inquiring mind, " that I look like 
a minister ? " " My certy, no ! " cried the simple-minded war- 
rior ; " or you wouldna drive like yon ! " 

Such comic lights, often dwelt upon and much appreciated 
by bis friends, played about this unusual figure, necessary ac- 
companiments of its singular aspect. To his intimates he 
opened his heart so freely, and exhibited all his peculiarities 
after so transparent a fashion, that those points of his character 
which might have appeared defects to the eyes of strangers, 
grew dear to those who loved him, originating as they did in 
his own perfect affectionateness and sincerity. " He was vain, 
there is no denying it," writes a dear friend of his ; " but it was 
a vanity proceeding out of what was best and most lovable 
in him, — his childlike simplicity and desire to be loved; 
his crystal transparency of character letting every little 
weakness show through it as frankly as his noblest quali- 
ties ; and, above all, out of his loyal, his divine trust in the 
absolute truth and sincerity, and the generous sympathy and 
good- will, of all who made friendly advances towards him." But 
his aspect to the general mass, who saw him only " in society," 
or in the pulpit, was of a different kind. The solemnity of his 
appearance and manners impressed that outside audience. He 
spoke in language " such as grave livers do in Scotland use," 
with a natural pomp of diction at all times ; and took a certain 
priestly attitude which is not usual in Scotland, — the attitude 
of a man who stands between Glod and his fellows. A story, 
for which I will not vouch, is told of one such remarkable ap- 
pearance which he made at a Glasgow dinner-party. A young 
man was present who had permitted himself to talk pro- 
fanely, in a manner now unknown, and which would not be 
tolerated in any party now-a-days. After expending all his 
little wit upon priestcraft and its inventions, this youth, getting 
bold by degrees, at last attacked Irving — who had hitherto 
taken no notice of him — directly, as one of the world-deluding 
order. Irving heard him out in silence, and then turned to the 
other listeners. " My friends," he said, " I will make no reply 



64 CONVICTS IN GLASGOW JAIL. 

to this unhappy youth, who hath attacked the Lord in the person 
of his servant ; but let us pray that this his sin may not be laid 
to his charge ; " and with a solemn motion of his hand, which the 
awe-struck diners-out instinctively obeyed, Irving rose up to 
his full majestic height, and solemnly commended the offender 
to the forgiveness of (iod. "Whether this incident really oc- 
curred I cannot tell ; but it is one of the anecdotes told of him, 
and it certainly embodies the most popular conception of his 
demeanour and bearing. 

The labours of all engaged in that parish were unceasing ; 
and in addition to the two services on each Sunday, which 
were Irving' s share of the work, and the perpetual round of 
parochial visits and occasional services, he was "always 
ready," — as says Mr David Stowe, the educational reformer 
of Grlasgow, whose life-long work was then commencing in a 
great system of Sunday schools, — to lend his aid wherever it 
was required. "When the Sunday scholars were slow to be 
drawn out, or the district unpromising, or a more distinct 
impulse necessary than could be given by mere visits and 
invitations, Irving did not hesitate to go down with the 
anxious teacher to his " proportion," and with his Bible in 
his hand, take his station against the wall and address the 
slowly gathering assembly all unused to out-of-door addresses, 
a species of ministrations which were at the period considered 
rather beneath the dignity of ministers of the Church. Irving 
had also the charge of visiting the convicts in prison ; and is 
said to have done so on some occasions with great effect. 
One of those unhappy persons had been condemned for a 
murder, though strenuously denying his guilt. After his 
conviction the unhappy man succeeded in interesting his 
visitor by his assertions of innocence ; and when Irving left 
the prison, it was to plunge into the dens of the G-allowgate, 
taking with him as assistants a private friend of his own, 
and a member of Dr Chalmers's agency — to make a last 
anxious effort to discover whether any exculpatory evidence 
was to be found. The surviving member of that generous 
party remembers how they searched through the foul re- 
cesses of the Grlasgow St Giles's ; and went to all the haunts 
of their wretched client, a charitable, forlorn hope. But the 
matter, it turned out, was hopeless ; what they heard con- 
firmed instead of shaking, the justice of the conviction, and 
the bootless investigation was given up. 

Thus Irving lived, in the shade. Some of those friends 
to whom he attached himself so fervently, young men like 
himself, not yet settled down into the proprieties of life, 



IN THE SHADE. 65 

supported his claims to a higher appreciation with vehement 
partisanship, which proceeded as much from love to the man 
as from admiration of his genius. Here and there an eager 
boy, in the ragged red gown which Glasgow uses for aca- 
demical costume, recognized, with the intuition of youth, the 
high eloquence flashing over those slumbrous heads. But 
on the whole, the Glasgow congregation sat patronizingly 
quiet, and listened, without much remarking what the " helper 
had to say." As much as the ordinary brain could bear, 
they had already heard, or were to hear the same day, from 
"the Doctor himself." Under such circumstances it was 
scarcely to be expected that they could do more than listen 
calmly to the addresses of the other preacher, whose manner, 
and looks, and mode of address were all undoubtedly ex- 
ceptional, and subject to criticism. Such a strain would 
have been impossible to any merely mortal audience ; so the 
good people drowsed through the afternoons, and were kind 
to Mr Irving ; they were very glad to hear the Doctor found 
him so serviceable among his poor ; that the agency made so 
good a report of him ; and that altogether he was likely to 
do well. They told the current stories of his gigantic form, 
and doubtful looks, and odd ways — laughed at his impetuous 
individuality with kindness, but amusement — and had as 
little idea of the fame he was to reach, as of any other in- 
comprehensible event. The profound unconsciousness in 
which this strange little community, all dominated and go- 
verned by their leader and his great project, held lightly the 
other great intelligence in the midst of them, is as strange a 
picture of human nature as could be seen. It reminds one 
of that subtle law of evidence which Sir "Walter Scott intro- 
duces so dramatically in accounting for the recognition of 
his hero Bertram, in Guy Mannering, by the postilion, who 
had seen him without an idea of recognizing him before. 
" Wha was thinking o' auld Ellangowan then?" says Jock 
Jabos. The principle holds good in wider questions. The 
Glasgow people had their eyes fixed upon one man of genius 
and his great doings. They certainly saw the other man in 
the shadow of his chief, and had a perception, by the way, of 
his stature and peculiarities. But who was thinking of 
genius or extraordinary endowments in Dr Chalmers's helper ? 
Their eyes had not been directed to him ; they saw him 
always in the shade, carrying out another man's ideas, and 
dominated by another man's superior influence ; and this 
most natural and prevailing principle of human thought 
kept Irving obscure and unrevealed to their eyes. 



66 HIS LOYALTY AND ADMIRATION. 

The same influence gradually wrought upon himself. It 
is apparent that there was much in his Glasgow life which 
he enjoyed, and which suited him ; and no more loyal ex- 
pression of regard for a master and leader was ever written 
than the dedication afterwards addressed to Dr Chalmers, in 
which he thanks God for " that dispensation which brought 
me acquainted with your good and tender-hearted nature, 
whose splendid accomplishments I knew already ; and you 
now live in the memory of my heart more than in my ad- 
miration. "While I laboured as your assistant, my labours 
were never weary ; they were never enough to express my 
thankfulness to God for having associated me with such a 
man, and my affection to the man with whom I was asso- 
ciated." To the same tenor is the tone of his farewell ser- 
mon, the first production which he ever gave to the press, 
and in which, not without much strenuous argument for the 
freedom of individual preaching, his favourite and oft-re- 
peated theme, he acknowledges " the burden of my obliga- 
tions to my God," in respect to his residence in Glasgow. 
" He has given me," says the preacher, his heart swelling 
with all the gratitude and affection which kindness always 
produced in him, and the warm impulse of his nature casting 
all drawbacks behind, "the fellowship of a man mighty in 
his Church, an approving congregation of his people, the 
attachment of a populous corner of his vineyard. I ask no 
more of Heaven for the future but to grant me the con- 
tinuance of the portion which, by the space of three years, I 
have here enjoyed. But this I need not expect. Never 
again shall I find another man of transcendent genius whom 
I can love as much as I admire — into whose house I can go 
in and out like a son — whom I can revere as a father, and 
serve with the devotion of a child — never shall I find another 
hundred consociated men of piety, and by free-will conso- 
ciated, whose every sentiment I can adopt, and whose every 
scheme I can find delight to second. And I feel I shall never 
find another parish often thousand into every house of which 
I was welcomed as a friend, and solicited back as a brother." 

This was one side of the picture : sincerely felt and fully 
expressed, without any restraint from the thought that on 
the other side he had expressed, and yet should express as 
fully, his weariness, his longings for a scene of action entirely 
his own ; his almost disgust with a subordination which had 
now exceeded the natural period of probation. It was no 
part of Irving's temper to acknowledge any such restraint. 
\Yhat he said in the fullest, grateful sincerity, he did not 



THE DARK SIDE. 67 

stumble and choke over because lie was aware of having on 
another occasion expressed, with equal warmth, another phase 
of feeling, equally sincere, though apparently inconsistent. 
That he should have been content with the position which he 
describes in such glowing colours would have been simply 
unnatural. He had now attained the age when it becomes 
necessary for a man to do what he has to do in this world 
for himself, and not for another: he was approaching the 
completion of his thirtieth year. Nature herself protested 
that he could remain no longer dependent and secondary; 
and that it was time to be done with probationary efforts. 
His thoughts, which had been so long kept silent while his 
heart burned, and so long indifferently listened to by a pre- 
occupied audience, must have full course. His energy must 
have scope in an independent field. To stand aside longer, 
with all his conscious powers burning within him, was gradu- 
ally becoming impossible to Irving. At the very moment 
when he recognized with generous enthusiasm the advantages 
of his position, he felt its limits and confinements like a 
chain of iron round his neck. The bondage, though these 
were the most desirable of bonds, was gradually growing 
intolerable. He was a man fully equipped and prepared, 
aware of a longer probation, a sterner prelude, a harder 
training than most men. We will not venture to say that 
the natural sweetness of his heart could have been embittered 
even by the continuance of this unencouraging labour ; but, 
at all events, nature took alarm, and felt herself in danger. 
He received an invitation to go to Kingston, in Jamaica, to 
a Presbyterian congregation there, and is said to have taken 
it into serious consideration, and only to have been deterred 
from accepting it by the opposition of his friends. White 
men or black men, what did it matter, so long as he could 
build, not upon another man's foundation, but do his own 
work as G-od has ordained to every man ? And failing that, 
his ancient missionary thoughts returned to his mind. I 
cannot help thinking that there is something wonderfully 
pathetic and touching in this project, which he carried so far 
upon the way of life with him, and to which up to this mo- 
ment he always recurred when his path became dark or 
impracticable. I could fancy it a suggestion of Heaven to 
turn aside his feet, while it was yet possible, from that fiery 
ordeal and passage of agony through which his course lay. 
The same thoughts, which once filled his chamber in Bristo 
Street, came back in the winter of 1821, when, after two 
years' labour in Gflasgow, he saw himself no further advanced 



68 THE CALEDONIAN CHAPEL, HATTON GARDEN. 

in his independent way than when, full of hopes, he had 
come there to open his mouth in his Master's service. Dr 
Chalmers could get many assistants, but Edward Irving 
could get but one life, and was this all it was destined to 
come to ? Again he saw himself going forth forlorn, giving 
up all things for his Lord; carrying the gospel afar, over 
distant mountains, distant plains, into the fa» Eastern wastes. 
It was an enterprise to make the heart beat and swell, but it 
was death to all human hopes. "When he grasped that cross 
the roses and laurels would fade out of his expectation for 
ever. Love and fame must both be left behind. It was in 
him to leave them behind, had the visible moment arrived, 
and the guidance of Providence appeared. But he under- 
stood while he pondered what was the extent of the sacrifice. 
Just at this moment the clouds opened — he has described 
it so well in his own words that it would be worse than 
vanity to use any other : — 

" The Caledonian Church had been placed under the pastoral 
care of two worthy ministers, who were successively called to parochial 
charges in the Church of Scotland ; and by their removal, and for want 
of a stated ministry, it was reduced to great and almost hopeless straits. 
But faith hopeth against hope, and when it does so, never faileth to be 
rewarded. This was proved in the case of those two men whose names 
I have singled out from your number, to give them that honour to 
which they are entitled in the face of the congregation. Having heard 
through a friend of theirs, and now also of mine, but at that time un- 
known to me, of my unworthy labours in Glasgow, as assistant to the 
Rev. Dr Chalmers, they commissioned him to speak to me concerning 
their vacant church, and not to hide from me its present distress. 

" Well do I remember the morning when, as I sat in my lonely 
apartment, meditating the uncertainties of a preacher's calling, and re- 
volving in my mind purposes of missionary work, this stranger stepped 
in upon my musing, and opened to me the commission with which he 
had been charged. The answer which I made to him, with which also 
I opened my correspondence with the brethren, whose names are men- 
tioned above, was to this efFect : 'If the times permitted, and your 
necessities required that I should not only preach the gospel without 
being burdensome to you, but also by the labour of my hands minister 
to your wants, this would I esteem a more honourable degree than to 
be Archbishop of Canterbury/ And such as the beginning was, was 
also the continuance and ending of this negotiation. . . . Being in such 
a spirit towards one another, the preliminaries were soon arranged — 
indeed I may say needed no arrangement — and I came up on the day 
before the Christmas of 1821, to make trial and proof of my gifts before 
the remnant of the congregation which still held together." * 

* Dedication of the Last Lays to "W. Dinwiddie, Esq., Father of the 
Session of the National Scotch Church ; "W. Hamilton, Esq., Secretary of the 



irving's pleasure in HIS RECEPTION AT LONDON. 69 

His own appreciation of his welcome in London, and the 
hopes excited in his mind by this new development of affairs, 
may be learnt from the following letter, addressed to his 
much-regarded pupil and friend Miss Welsh. 

" Glasgow, 34, Kent Street, 9th February, 1822. 

"My dear, and lovely Pupil, When I am my own master, de- 
livered from the necessity of attending to engagements, ever soliciting 
me upon the spot where I am, and exhausting me to very lassitude 
before the evening, when my friendly correspondence should commence, 
then, and not till then, shall I be able, I fear, to discharge my heart of 
the obligations which it feels to those at a distance. Do excuse me, I 
pray you, by the memory of our old acquaintance, and anything else 
which it is pleasant to remember, for my neglect to you in London, and 
not to you alone, I am sorry to say, but to every one whom I was not 
officially bound to write to, even my worthy father. Forget and forgive 
it ; and' let us be established in our former correspondence as if no such 
sin against it had ever taken place. I could say some things on my 
own behalf ; but till you go to London, which I hope will not be till I am 
there to be a brother to you, you could not at all sympathize with them. 

"And know now, though late, that my head is almost turned with 
the approbation I received — certainly my head is turned; for from 
being a poor desolate creature, melancholy of success, yet steel against 
misfortune, I have become all at once full of hope and activity. My 
hours of study have doubled themselves — my intellect, long unused to 
expand itself, is now awakening again, and truth is revealing itself to 
my mind. And perhaps the dreams and longings of my fair correspond- 
ent * may yet be realized. I have been solicited to publish a discourse 
which I delivered before his Royal Highness the Duke of York ; but 
have refused till my apprehensions of truth be larger, and my treatment 
of it more according to the models of modern and ancient times. The 
thanks of all the directors I have received formally — the gift of all the 
congregation of the Bible used by his Royal Highness. The elders paid 
my expenses in a most princely style. My countrymen of the first 
celebrity, especially in art, welcomed me to their society, and the first 
artist in the city drew a most admirable half-length miniature of me in 
action. And so, you see, I have reason to be vain. 

" But these things, my dear Jane, delight me not, save as vouchsafe- 
ments of my Maker's bounty, the greater because the more undeserved. 
Were I established in the love and obedience of Him, I should rise tower- 
ingly aloft into the regions of a very noble and sublime character, and 
so would my highly-gifted pupil, to retain whose friendship shall be a 
consolation to my life : to have her fellowship in divine ambitions would 
make her my dear companion through eternity. 

"To your affectionate mother, whose indulgence gives me this 
pleasant communication with her daughter, I have to express my 
attachment in every letter. May you live worthy of each other, mutual 

Committee for building the National Scotch Church ; and to the other mem- 
bers of the Session and Committee. 

* He refers to his young friend's affectionate prophecies of his future fame. 



TO OBSTACLES. 

stays through life, doubly endeared, because alone together ; and there- 
fore doubly dutiful to Him who is the Husband of the widow, and the 
Father of the fatherless. I have sent this under cover to my friend 
T. C, not knowing well where you are at present. If in Edinburgh, 
offer my benedictions upon your uncle's new alliance. I hope to be in 
Edinburgh soon, where I will not be without seeing you. 
" I am, my dear pupil, 

" Your affectionate friend, 

"Edward Irving." 

" Wherewith " (namely, with the trial of his gifts) " being 
satisfied," he continues, in the dedication already quoted, "I 
took my journey homewards, waiting the good pleasure of 
the great Head of the Church. Many were the difficulties 
and obstacles which Satan threw in the way, and which 
threatened hard to defeat altogether our desire and our pur- 
pose of being united in one. Amongst others, one, which 
would have deterred many men, was my inability to preach 
in the Gaelic tongue, of which I knew not a word." This 
absurd stipulation originated in the connection of the Cale- 
donian Chapel with the Caledonian Asylum, the directors 
of which are those whom he records as having thanked him 
formally — an institution originally intended for the orphan 
children of soldiers and sailors, and of whose office-bearers 
the Duke of York, the Commander-in-Chief, was president. 
This institution is still in existence, and until the disruption 
of the Church of Scotland, still sent its detachments of 
children into the galleries of the National Scotch Church, 
built to replace the little Caledonian Chapel. But at that 
period it was its connection with the great charity which 
alone gave the little chapel importance. Other Scotch 
churches, more flourishing and prosperous, were in exist- 
ence ; hut the chapel in Hatton Garden had a trifling parlia- 
mentary allowance, in direct consideration of its connection 
with the Asylum, and the minister's power of preaching 
Gaelic. This initial difficulty called forth from Irving the 
following characteristic letter : — 

" To my honoured friends, Mr Dinwiddie, Mr Simpson, Mr Robertson, 

Mr Hamilton, and others connected with the Caledonian Chapel, to 

whom I have the pleasure of being known, and who take an interest 

in my coming to London. 

" Gentlemen, My friend Mr Laurie has called to report to me 

the result of the last meeting of Directors of the Asylum ; and as Mr 

Hamilton requested him to make it known to me, I feel myself called 

upon to do my endeavour to make you comfortable under, and also if 

possible to extricate you from, the embarrassment in which you may 

feel yourselves. 



PLEDGES HIMSELF TO LEARN GAELIC. 71 

" First. Let my interest be as nothing. The Lord will provide for 
me ; and since I left you His providence has presented me with the 
offer of a chapel of ease in Dundee, with the probable reversion of the 
first vacant living in the place. This, of course, I refused. The people 
of New York are inquiring for me to succeed the great Dr Mason — at 
least are writing letters to that effect. This I do not think will come 
to any head, because I am not M^orthy of the honour. But I mention 
both to show you in what good hands my fortune is, when it is left to 
God alone. 

" Secondly. But if, for the interests of your own souls, and re- 
ligion in general, and the Scotch Church in particular, you do still desire 
my services among you, then I am ready at any call, and almost on any 
conditions, for my own spirit is bent to preach the Gospel in London. 

" Thirdly. If the gentlemen of the Asylum would not mistake for 
importunity and seeking of a place, what I offer from a desire to mediate 
peace, and benefit the best interests of my countrymen, I pledge myself 
to study Gaelic ; and if I cannot write it and preach it in six months, I 
give them my missive to be burdensome to them no longer. There was 
a time when the consciousness of my own powers would have made it 
seem as meanness so to condescend ; but now the lowness of condescen- 
sion for Christ's sake I feel to be the height of honour. 

" Fourthly. But if not, and you are meditating, as Mr Hamilton 
says, to obtain another place of worship to which to call me, then be 
assured I shall not be difficult to persuade to come amongst you ; and I 
shall not distress your means ; but, content with little, minister, in 
humble dependence upon God, the free grace of the Gospel. 

"Finally, gentlemen, should I never see your faces any more, my 
heart is towards you, and my prayers are for you, and the blessing of the 
Lord God shall be upon us all if we seek His face ; and we shall dwell 
together in that New Jerusalem where there is no temple and no need 
of any pastors ; but the Lamb doth lead them and feed them by rivers of 
living waters, and wipes away all tears from their eyes. 

" Commend me to your families in love and brotherhood, and do ye 
all regard me as 

" Your obliged and affectionate friend, 

"Edward Irving." 

" Glasgow, 21st February, 1822." 

The Directors of the Caledonian Asylum were not, how- 
ever, " so far left to themselves," as we say in Scotland, as to 
insist upon the six months of Gaelic study thus heroically 
volunteered. The Duke of York exerted his influence to set 
aside the stipulation ; and after it had answered its purpose 
in stimulating the warmth of both parties, and adding a little 
more suspense and uncertainty to Irving's long probation, 
the difficulty was overcome. Or rather, to use his own 
words, " Grod, having proved our willingness, was pleased to 
remove this obstacle out of the way." Upon this another 
difficulty arose. It is a rule of the Church of Scotland not 
to ordain any minister over a congregation until they are 



72 BOND REQUIRED BY THE PRESBYTERY. 

first certified that the people are able and prepared to pro- 
vide him with a fit income — " to give him a livelihood," as 
Irving says simply. This is usually done in the form of a 
bond submitted to the Presbytery before the ordination, by 
which the stipend is fixed at a certain rate which the office- 
bearers pledge themselves to maintain. This was a difficult 
point for the poor little handful at Hatton Grarden, who had 
only been able to keep themselves together by great exer- 
tions, and to whom only the valuable but scanty nucleus of 
fifty adherents belonged. The Presbytery in consequence 
demurred to the ordination ; and once more the matter came 
to a temporary stand-still. Irving, however, was less prudent 
than the Presbytery. 

" I am doing my utmost to get the Presbytery to consent to my 
ordination without a bond, and I hope to succeed," he writes to Mr 
W. Hamilton, one of the principal members of the Caledonian Chapel. 
" But if they will not, I come in June, ordination or no ordination : and 
if they are not content with the security I am content with, then I shall 
be content to do without their ordination and seek it elsewhere, or ap- 
ply for it after. But I augur better." 

The " bond," however, which Irving, generous and im- 
petuous, would have been well content to dispense with, but 
which the prudent Presbytery insisted upon, was at length 
procured. " Another obstacle to my ordination your readi- 
ness," says Irving in the dedication already quoted, " with- 
out any request of mine, removed out of the way. To those 
brethren who came forward so voluntarily and so liberally on 
that occasion, the church and the minister of the church are 
much beholden; and all of us are beholden to Grod, who 
useth us, in any way, however humble, for the accomplish- 
ment of His good purposes." 

Everything was now settled, and only the necessary ec- 
clesiastical preliminaries remained. The young man was at 
the highest pitch of hope and anticipation. As he had not 
concealed his eagerness to go, he did not conceal the high 
expectations with which he entered the longed-for field. 
Expressions of his hopes and projects burst forth wherever he 
went — misconstrued, of course, by many ; received with cold 
wonder, and treated as boasts and braggadocio ; but under- 
stood and believed by some. And the only evidence of other 
sentiments which appears in his correspondence — contained 
in a letter to Dr Martin, evidently written in a moment of 
depression — still characteristically exhibits the high pitch of 
his anticipations. " There are a few things which bind me 



KOSNEATH. 73 

to the world, and but a very few," writes the young man in 
this effusion of momentary weariness ; " one is to make a 
demonstration for a higher style of Christianity, something 
more magnanimous, more heroical than this age affects. God 
knows with what success." These wonderful prophetic words, 
written in some moment of revulsion, when the very height 
of satisfaction and triumph had brought a sudden depth of 
temporary depression to his sensitive soul, are the only 
visible trace of those clouds which can never be wholly 
banished from the brightest firmament. During the last 
week of his residence in Glasgow, he went to Eosneath to 
visit and take farewell of his friend Mr Story, accompanied 
by another clerical friend, who went with him in wonder and 
dread, often inquiring how the farewell sermon, which was to 
be delivered on Sunday, could come into being. This good 
man perceived with dismay that Irving was not occupied 
about his farewell sermon, and declared with friendly vexation 
that if anything worthy of a leave-taking with the people of 
St John's was produced by the departing preacher under 
such circumstances, he would prove himself " the cleverest 
man in Scotland." Irving, however, was not dismayed. He 
went joyfully over loch and hill in that sweet holiday of 
hope. The world was all before him, and everything was 
possible. No more limits except those of the truth, nor ob- 
literation under another man's shadow. All this time he had 
been but painfully fitting and putting his armour together ; 
now he was already close to the lists, and heard the trumpets 
of the battle, with laughter like that of the war-horse; a 
little longer, and he should be in the field. 

One day in this happy period, when going about the 
country with his friend, Irving, active, as of old, and full of 
glee and energy, leaped a gate which interposed in their way. 
This feat took the minister of Eosneath a little by surprise, 
as was natural. "Dear me, Irving," he exclaimed, "I did 
not think you had been so agile." Irving turned upon him 
immediately, " Once I read you an essay of mine," said the 
preacher, " and you said, ' Dear me, Irving, I did not think 
you had been so classical ; ' another time you heard me 
preach, ' Dear me, Irving, I did not know you had so much 
imagination.' Now you shall see what great things I will 
do yet ! " 

In this state of exulting expectation, he was not more pa- 
tient than usual of the ordinary orthodoxy round him. While 
himself the sincerest son of his mother Church, and loving her 
very standards with a love which never died out of him, he 



74 HAPPY ANTICIPATIONS. 

was always intolerant of the common stock of dry theology, 
and the certified soundness of dull men. " You are content 
to go back and forward on the same route, like this boat," he 
is reported to have said, as the party struck across the swell- 
ing waters of the Grair-loch ; " but as for me, I hope yet to 
go deep into the ocean of truth." Words over-bold and 
incautious, like most of his words ; yet wonderfully charac- 
teristic of the unconcealed exaltation of mind and hope in 
which he was. 

So he returned to Glasgow, still accompanied by the 
alarmed and anxious friend, who could get no satisfaction 
about his farewell sermon, — such an occurrence as this solemn 
leave-taking, to which the little world looked forward, was 
an event in the history of the parish. It was an occasion 
such as preachers generally make the most of, and in which 
natural sentiment permits them a little freedom and deliver- 
ance from the ordinary restraints of the pulpit. And it was, 
perhaps, the first opportunity which Irving had ever had, 
with all eyes concentrated on himself, to communicate his 
thoughts without risk of the inevitable comparison, or the 
jealousy equally inevitable, of those who resented the idea 
of the assistant attempting to rival "the Doctor." He was 
now no longer Dr Chalmers's assistant, but a London minister 
elect ; and when the bonds which bound him were unloosed, 
all the kindnesses of the past rushed warm upon the memory 
of the impulsive young man. He came into the pulpit glow- 
ing with a tender flush of gratitude ; his discontent and 
weariness had dropped off from him, and existed no longer ; 
he remembered only the love, the friendship, the good offices, 
the access he had obtained to many hearts. In that sermon, 
of which his companion despaired, the materials required 
little research or arrangement. The preacher had but to go 
back upon his own life of two years, seen in the warm re- 
viving light of farewell kindness. He stood up in that pulpit, 
the last time he was to occupy it by right of his present 
position, and calmly told the astonished hearers of his own 
unpopularity, of their forbearance, yet not applause, of the 
" imperfections which had not been hid from their eyes," yet 
of the brotherly kindness which they, and especially the poor 
among them, had shown him ; and proclaimed the praises of 
his leader with a warmth and heartfelt fulness which dis- 
tressed and overwhelmed that sober Scotsman, unaccustomed 
to and disapproving of such demonstrations of attachment. 
Even upon that unenthusiastic and pre-occupied audience 
this farewell address seems to have made an impression. He 



OFFERS HIS SERVICES IN LONDON TO ALL. 75 

left them at peace with all men ; and forgetting, as his affec- 
tionate temperament had a faculty for forgetting, all his 
annoyances and discomforts there. This farewell took away 
every possibility of bitterness. They were all his friends 
whom he left behind. He gave a wide, but warm, universal 
invitation to all. His house, his services, all that he could 
do, were freely pledged to whosoever of those parishioners 
might come to London and stand in need of him. He meant 
what he said, unguarded and imprudent as the expression 
was ; and the people instinctively understood that he did so. 
It was thus with the warmest effusion of good-will that he 
left Grlasgow, where, as in every other place, there was no 
lack of people who smiled at him, were doubtful of him, and 
patronized him with amusing toleration ; but where nobody 
now or then had an unkind word to say. 

"When the farewell was over, and the sermon had met 
with its award, that good, puzzled companion, who went with 
the incomprehensible preacher to Rosneath, confided all his 
doubts and troubles on this subject to the private ear of a 
sympathizing friend. " Such a sermon would have taken me 
a week to write ! " said this bewildered worthy. Possibly a 
lifetime would have been too short for such a feat, had the 
good man but known. 

After this leave-taking Irving proceeded to Annan, to his 
father's house, there to appear once more before the Presbytery 
and go through his final " trials " for ordination. He chose 
to have this great solemnity of his life accomplished in the 
same church in which he had been baptized, and in which a 
third sad act awaited him. But there was no foreboding in 
the air of that sweet spring, which he spent in a kind of 
retreat of calm and retirement in his paternal house. 

Immediately after his ordination he returned to Grlasgow, 
and there assisted Dr Chalmers in the solemn and austere 
pomp — (pomp, not certainly of outward accessories, yet it is 
the only word by which I can describe the importance given 
to the half-yearly occasion, the " sacramental season " of 
Scotch piety, separated as it is by long array of devotional 
services from the ordinary course of the year) — of a Scottish 
communion. Irving himself describes this as "having ex- 
perienced of my dear friend Dr Chalmers the singular honour 
of administering the sacrament to his parish flock, being my 
first act as an ordained minister." It was a graceful conclu- 
sion to his residence in Grlasgow. Prom thence he set out, 
amid honour and good wishes, with the highest hopes in his 
mind, and charity in his heart, on the morning of the 8th of 



76 GOES TO LONDON. 

July, 1822, to London. The future seems to have glowed 
before him with the indefinite brightness of early youth. 
All that memorable tragic life that lay solemnly waiting for 
him among the multitudinous roofs was hid in the haze of an 
illumination which never takes visible shape or form. But 
Nature, prevoyant, tingled into his heart an inarticulate 
thrill of prophecy. He went forth joyfully, wittingly, aware 
of all the hazards of that battle, into the deepest of the fight 
— amid all the exaltation of his hopes, never without a touch 
of forlorn dignity, acknowledged without any bitterness, the 
consciousness of a man who, however he might triumph here- 
after, had known many a defeat already. Thus Irving went 
out of his youth and obscurity, out of trials and probation 
not often exceeded, to the solemn field full of lights and 
shadows greater than he dreamt of, where his course, for a 
time, was to be that of a conqueror, and where, at last, like 
other kings and victors before him, he was to fall, dauntless 
but mortal, with the loss of all save honour. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

LONDON, 1822. 



" On the second Sabbath of July, 1822," Irving began his 
labours in London. The fifty people who had signed his 
call, with such dependents as might belong to them, and a 
stray sprinkling of London Scotsmen, curious to hear what 
their new countryman might have to say for himself, formed 
all the congregation in the little chapel. The position was 
not one calculated to excite the holder of it into any flights 
of ambition, so far as its own qualities went. It was far from 
the fashionable and influential quarter of the town — a chapel 
attached to a charity, and a congregation reduced to the 
very lowest ebb in point of numbers. Nor did Irving enter 
upon his career with those aids of private friendship which 
might make an ordinary man sanguine of increasing his 
estimation and social sphere. Sir David Wilkie records his 
belief that the new preacher had introductions only to him- 
self and Sir Peter Lawrie, neither of them likely to do much 
in the way of opening up London, great, proud, and critical, 
to the unknown Scotsman ; and though this statement may 



FIRST APPEARANCE. 77 

not be entirely correct, yet it is evident that he went with 
few recommendations, save to the little Scotch community 
amidst which, as people supposed, he was to live and labour. 
There are stories extant among that community still, con- 
cerning the early beginnings of his fame, which, after all that 
has passed since, are sadly amusing and strange, with their 
dim recognition of some popular qualities in the new minister, 
and mutual congratulations over a single adherent gained. 
Attracted by the enthusiastic admiration expressed by a 
painter almost unknown to fame, of the noble head and 
bearing of the new comer, another painter was induced to 
enter the little chapel where the stranger preached his first 
sermon. When the devotional services were over, — begin- 
ning with the Psalm, read out from the pulpit, in a voice so 
splendid and melodious that the harsh metres took back 
their original rhythm, and those verses so dear to Scotsmen 
justified their influence even to more fastidious ears, — the 
preacher stood up, and read as the text of his sermon the 
following words : — " Therefore came I unto you without 
gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for. I ask you, therefore, 
for what intent you have sent for me?" The sermon has 
not been preserved, so far as I am aware ; but the text — 
remembered as almost all Irving' s texts are remembered — 
conveys all the picturesque reality of the connection thus 
formed between the preacher and his people, as well as the 
solemn importance of the conjunction. The listening stranger 
was of course fascinated, and became not only a member of Mr 
Irving' s church, but — more faithful to the Church than to 
the man — a supporter of the Church of Scotland after she 
had expelled him. 

By degrees the little chapel began to fill. So far as 
appears, there was nobody of the least distinction connected 
with the place ; and it is hard to understand how the great 
world came so much as to hear of the existence of the new 
popularity. 

About a month later, Dr Chalmers, then making one of 
his rapid journeys through England, collecting the statistics 
of pauperism, came to London for the purpose of " intro- 
ducing," according to Presbyterian uses and phraseology, 
though in this case somewhat after date, the young minister 
to his charge. This simple ceremony, which is entirely one 
of custom, and not of rule, is generally performed by the 
most prized friend of the new preacher— who simply officiates 
for him, and in his sermon takes the opportunity of recom- 
mending, in such terms as his friendship suggests, the young 



78 CHALMERS IN LONDON. 

pastor to the love and esteem of his "people. Nobody could 
be better qualified to do this than Irving's master in their 
common profession ; and it is creditable to both parties to 
note how they mutually sought each other's assistance at 
such eventful moments of their life. Dr Chalmers writes to 
his wife on arriving in London that he found Irving " in 
good taking with his charge. He speculates as much as 
before on the modes of preaching ; is quite independent with 
his own people, and has most favourably impressed such men 
as Zachary Macaulay and Mr Cunningham with the concep- 
tion of his talents. He is happy and free, and withal making 
his way to good acceptance and a very good congregation." 
Such, as yet, was the modest extent of all prognostications in 
his favour. The good Doctor goes on to relate how he was 
delighted to find that Irving had been asked to dine with 
him in the house of a Bloomsbury M.P. ; evidently rejoicing 
in his opening of good society to his friend and disciple. 
The two returned together to Irving's lodgings after this 
dinner, and found there a hospitably-received, but apparently 

not too congenial guest, " Mr , the singularity of whose 

manners you were wont to remark, who is his guest at 
present from Glasgow. This," remarks Dr Chalmers, "is 
one fruit of Mr Irving's free and universal invitation ; but I 
am glad to find that he is quite determined as to visits, and 
apparently not much annoyed with the intrusion of callers." 
This is not the only evidence of the imprudent liberality of 
Irving's farewell invitation to the entire congregation of St 
John's. About the same time, to select one instance out of 
many, a poor man came to him seeking a situation, " a very 
genteel, respectable-looking young man," says the compassion- 
ate preacher, who refers him, in a letter full of beseeching 
sympathy, to his universal assistant and resource in all 
troubles — the good "William Hamilton. Such petitioners came 
in multitudes through all his after-life — receiving sometimes 
hospitality, sometimes advice — recommendations to other 
people more likely to help them — kindness always. Such 
troubles come readily enough of themselves to the clergymen 
of a popular church ; but the imprudence of inviting them 
was entirely characteristic of a man who would have served 
and entertained the entire world, if he could. 

The next Sunday, when Dr Chalmers preached, the little 
Cross Street church was, of course, crowded. Wilkie, the 
most tenacious of Scotsmen, had been already led to attend- 
ance upon Irving's ministrations, and was there, accompanied 
by Sir Thomas Lawrence, to hear his still greater countryman. 



PROGRESS IN POPULARITY. id 

But the brilliant crowd knew nothing yet of the other figure 
in that pulpit ; and went as it came, a passing meteor. After 
this, Dr Chalmers concludes his estimate of his former 
colleague's condition and prospects in the following words : 
" Mr Irving I left at Homerton, and as you are interested in 
him I may say, once for all, that he is prospering in his new 
situation, and seems to feel as if in that very station of com- 
mand and congeniality whereunto you have long known him 
to aspire. I hope that he will not hurt his usefulness by 
any kind of eccentricity or imprudence." In these odd and 
characteristic words Dr Chalmers, always a little impatient 
and puzzled even in his kindest moments abont a man so 
nndeniably eminent, yet so entirely nnlike himself, dismisses 
Irving, and proceeds npon his statistical inquiries. 

Meanwhile, in this station of" command and congeniality," 
as Chalmers so oddly terms it, Irving made swift and steady 
way. "Writing at a later period to his congregation, he men- 
tions a year as having passed before the tide of popularity 
swelled upon them beyond measure; but this must have 
been a failure of memory, for both the preacher and congre- 
gation were much earlier aware of the exceeding commotion 
and interest awakening around them. 

The immediate origin of Irving' s popularity, or rather of 
the flood of noble and fashionable hearers who poured in 
upon the little chapel in Hatton Grarden all at once, without 
warning or premonition, is said to have been a speech of 
Canning's. Sir James Mackintosh had been by some unex- 
pected circumstance led to hear the new preacher, and heard 
Irving in his prayer describe an unknown family of orphans 
belonging to the obscure congregation, as now " thrown upon 
the fatherhood of Grod." The words seized upon the mind 
of the philosopher, and he repeated them to Canning, who 
" started," as Mackintosh relates, and expressing great ad- 
miration, made an instant engagement to accompany his 
friend to the Scotch church on the following Sunday. 
Shortly after, a discussion took place in the House of Com- 
mons, in which the revenues of the Church were referred to, 
and the necessary mercantile relation between high talent 
and good pay insisted npon. No doubt it suited the states- 
man's purpose to instance, on the other side of the question, 
the little Caledonian chapel and its new preacher. Canning 
told the House that, so far from universal was this rule, that 
he himself had lately heard a Scotch minister, trained in one 
of the most poorly endowed of churches, and established in 
one of her outlying dependencies, possessed of no endowment 



80 HAPPY OBSCURITY. 

at all, preach the most eloquent sermon that he had ever 
listened to. The curiosity awakened by this speech is said 
to have been the first beginning of that invasion of " society " 
which startled Hatton Grarden out of itself. 

This first year, however, of his residence in London was 
so far obscure that he had as yet opened his voice only in 
the pulpit, and had consequently given the press and its 
vassals no vantage ground on which to assail him. It is, 
perhaps, with the new publicity which his first publication 
brought upon him in view, that he reminds his people how 
" for one year or nearly so, beginning with the second Sab- 
bath of July, 1822, our union went on cementing itself by 
mutual acts of kindness in the shade of that happy obscurity 
which we then enjoyed. And I delight to remember that 
season of our early love and confidence, because the noisy 
tongues of men and their envious eyes were not upon us." 
"With the best will in the world newspapers can take but 
little notice of a popular preacher, and periodicals of higher 
rank none at all, so that it was merely private criticism which 
commented upon the great new voice rising up in the heart 
of London. Besides the vague general facts of the rapidly 
raised enthusiasm, of applications for seats in the little Cale- 
donian chapel, which would only accommodate about six 
hundred people, rising in one quarter to fifteen hundred, and 
Irving's own simple and gratified intimation that " the church 
overflows every day," there is very little certain information 
to be obtained of that first year of his progress in London. 
Thirty Sermons, taken down in shorthand by W. J. Oxford, 
but published only in 1835 after Irving's death, and forming 
the second volume of Irving's Life and Works — a production 
evidently got up to catch the market at the moment of his 
death — contains the only record remaining to us of his early 
eloquence. Nobody who reads these sermons, imperfect as 
they must be from the channel through which they come, 
will wonder at the rising glow of excitement which, when a 
second year set in, brought all London struggling for places 
to the little Scotch church, already fully occupied by its own 
largely increased congregation. They have, it is true, no 
factitious attractions, and genius, all warm and eloquent, has 
preached before without such results ; but the reader will 
not fail to see the great charm of the preacher's life and 
labours already glowing palpable through those early pro- 
clamations of his message. Heart and soul, body and spirit, 
the man who speaks comes before us as we read ; and I have 
no doubt that the first thrill of that charm which soon moved 



THE "HAPPY WARRIOR.'' 81 

all London, and the fascination of which never wholly faded 
from Irving's impassioned lips, lay in the fact that it was 
not mere genius or eloquence, great as their magic is, but 
something infinitely greater — a man, all visible in those hours 
of revelation, striving mightily with every man he met, in an 
entire personal unity which is possible to very few, and which 
never fails, where it appears, to exercise an influence superior 
to any merely intellectual endowment. Nor is it possible 
to read the few letters of this period, especially those above 
quoted, without feeling the deep satisfaction and content 
which at last possessed him, and the stimulus given to all his 
faculties by this profound consciousness of having attained 
the place suitable for him and the work which he could do. 
A long breath of satisfaction expands the breast which has so 
often swelled with the wistful sighs of longing and deferred 
hope. He is the " happy warrior " at length able to work 
out his life " upon the plan that pleased his youthful 
thought ; " and his descriptions of his studies and the 
assiduity with which he set to work — his very self-examina- 
tions and complaints of his own unworthiness — are penetrated 
with this sentiment. He stands at the beginning of his 
career in an attitude almost sublime in its simplicity, look- 
ing forward with all the deep eagerness of an ambition 
which sought not its own advancement — a man to whom 
Grod had granted the desire of his heart. Few men con- 
sciously understand and acknowledge the fulness of this 
blessing, which indeed is not often conferred. Most people, 
indeed, find the position they had hoped and longed for, to 
fall far short of their hopes when it is attained. Irving was 
an exception to this common rule of humanity. He had 
reached the point to which he had been struggling, and amid 
all the joyful stir of his faculties to fill his place worthily, he 
never hesitates nor grudges to make full acknowledgment 
that he has got his desire. Not merely obedience and loyalty 
constrain him to the work, but gratitude to that Master who 
has permitted him to reach the very post of his choice. 
With a full heart and unhesitating words, and even more 
by a certain swell of heroic joy and content in everything he 
does and says, he testifies his thankfulness. It is no longer 
a man struggling, as most men do, through ungenial circum- 
stances and adverse conditions whom we have to contemplate, 
but a man consciously and confessedly in the place which 
his imagination and wishes have long pointed out to him 
as the most desirable, the most suitable in the world for 
himself. 



82 HIS FIRST HOUSEHOLD. 

"With this buoyant and joyful satisfaction, however, no 
mean motives mingled. Irving's temper was eminently social. 
He could not live without having people round him to love, 
and still more to admire and reverence, and even to follow ; 
but no vain desire of " good society " seems to have moved 
the young Scotchman. He was faithful to Bloomsbury, 
which his congregation favoured ; and when he set up his 
first household in London, though moving a little out of that 
most respectable of localities, he went further off instead of 
nearer the world of fashion, and settled in Myddelton Terrace, 
Pentonville. Here he lived in modest economy for some 
years, prodigal in nothing but charity. The society into 
which he first glided was still Scotch, even when out of the 
narrower ecclesiastical boundaries. David Wilkie was one 
of his earliest friends, and "Wilkie brought him into contact 
with Allan Cunningham, a still closer countryman of his 
own. Thus he made gradual advances into the friendship 
and knowledge of the people about him ; and with his young 
brother sharing his lodging and calling out his affectionate 
cares, with daily studies close and persevering as those he 
has himself recorded ; with the little church Sunday by Sun- 
day overflowing more fully — till accidents began to happen 
in the narrow streets about Hatton Garden, and at last the 
concourse had to be regulated by wiles, and the delighted, 
but embarrassed, managers of the little Caledonian Chapel 
found an amount of occupation thrust upon their hands for 
which they were totally unprepared, and bad to hold the 
doors of their little building like so many besieged posterns 
against the assaults of the crowd ; and with notable faces ap- 
pearing daily more frequent in the throng of heads all turned 
towards the preacher, Edward Irving passed the first year of 
his life in London, and sprang out of obscurity and failure 
with a sudden unexampled leap to the giddiest height of 
popular applause, abuse, and idolatry, bearing the wonderful 
revolution with a steady but joyful simplicity, recognizing 
his success as openly as he had recognized the want of it, 
under which he suffered for so many silent years. 



THE ORATIONS. 83 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

1823. 

The second year of Irving' s residence in London was one 
of the deepest importance, both to himself personally and to 
his reputation. It opened with the publication of his 
first book, the Orations and the Argument for Judgment to 
come, both of which had been partly preached in the form of 
sermons, and were now in an altered shape presented, not to 
any special religious body, but to the world which had 
gathered together to hear them, and to those who lead the 
crowd, the higher intellects and imaginations, whom neither 
religious books nor discourses usually address. In this 
volume it is perceptible that the preacher's mind had swelled 
and risen with the increase of his audience. Something 
more, it was apparent, was required of him than merely con- 
gregational ministrations ; and he rises at the call to address 
those classes of men who are never to be found in numbers 
in any congregation, but who did drift into Ms audience in 
unprecedented crowds. In the preface to this publication 
he explains his own object with noble gravity, claiming for 
himself, with the most entire justice, though in such a way 
as naturally to call forth against him the jealous criticism of 
all self-satisfied preachers, a certain originality in the treat- 
ment of his subject, and desiring to be heard, not in the ear 
of the Church only, but openly before the greater tribunal 
of the world. At the height of his early triumph, looking 
back, he traces, through years of silence, his own steady 
protest against the ordinary strain of pulpit teaching ; and 
with a startling earnestness — which that long conviction, for 
which already he had suffered both hardships and injustice, 
explains and justifies better than anything else can do — ■ 
declares his knowledge of the great religious difficulty of the 
time. " It hath appeared to the author of this book," he says, 
going at once to the heart of the subject, and with charac- 
teristic frankness putting that first which was like to be taken 
most exception to, "from more than ten years' meditation 
upon the subject, that the chief obstacle to the progress of 
divine truth over the minds of men, is the want of its being 
sufficiently presented to them. In this Christian country 
there are perhaps nine-tenths of every class who know no- 
thing at all about the application and advantages of the 



84 irving's experiment in preaching. 

single truths of revelation, or of revelation taken as a whole ; 
and what they do not know they cannot be expected to 
reverence or obey. This ignorance, in both the higher and 
the lower orders, of religion as a discerner of the thoughts 
and intentions of the heart, is not so much due to the want 
of inquisitiveness on their part, as to the want of a sedulous 
and skilful ministry on the part of those to whom it is in- 
trusted." 

It cannot be surprising that such a beginning aroused at 
once all the antagonism with which innovations are generally 
regarded, and provoked those accusations of self-importance, 
self-exaltation, and vanity, which still are current among those 
who know nothing of the person they stigmatize. But not to 
say that he proves his case, which most unprejudiced readers 
will allow, nor that the grievance has gone on since his days, 
growing more and more intolerable, and calling forth many 
reproofs less serious but more bitter than Irving's, none who 
have accompanied us so far in this history, and perceived the 
exercises of patience which the preacher himself had to under- 
go, and the warm and strong conviction arising out of them 
which for years had hindered his own advancement, will be sur- 
prised at the plain speaking with which he heralds his own first 
performance. To get at the true way of addressing men, he him- 
self had been for years a wearied listener and discouraged essay- 
ist at speech. At last he had found the secret ; and the whole 
world round him had owned with an instantaneous thrill the 
power that was in it. With this triumphant vindication of his 
own doubts and dissatisfaction, to confirm him in his views, it 
was impossible for such a man to be silent on the general ques- 
tion. At this dazzling moment he had access to the highest 
intelligences in the country, — the teachers, the governors, the 
authorities of the land, had sought him out in that wilderness 
of mediocre London which had not even the antiquity of the 
city, nor any recommendation whatever, but was lost in the 
smoke, the dust, the ignoble din and bustle. And why was 
such an audience unusual ? How was it that they were not 
oftener attracted, seized upon, made to hear Grod's Word and 
will, if need were, in spite of themselves ? Thinking it over, he 
comes to the conclusion, not that his own genius was the cause, 
but that his brethren had not found the true method, had not 
learned the most effective way of discharging their duty. 
" They prepare for teaching gipsies, for teaching bargemen, for 
teaching miners, by apprehending their way of conceiving and 
estimating truth ; and why not prepare," he asks, with eloquent 
wonder, and a truth which nobody can dispute, " for teaching 



ARGUMENT FOR JUDGMENT TO COME. 85 

imaginative men, and political men, and legal men, and scientific 
men, who bear the world in hand ? This preparation, judging 
from what he saw around him every day, Irving was well 
justified in believing he himself had attained ; and he did not 
hesitate, while throwing himself boldly forth upon the world 
in a book- — a farther and swifter messenger than any voice — 
to declare it plainly, the highest reason and excuse for the 
publication in which he now, with all the fervour and elo- 
quence of a personal communication, addressed all who had 
ears to hear. 

The preface to the Orations, which form the first part of 
the volume, is so characteristic and noble an expression of 
friendship, that it would be inexcusable to omit it. 

" To the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D,D., 

Minister of St John's Church, Glasgow. 

" My honoured Friend, — I thank God, who directed you to hear 
one of my discourses, when I had made up my mind to leave my native 
land for solitary travel in foreign parts. That dispensation brought me 
acquainted with your good and tender-hearted nature, whose splendid 
accomplishments I knew already ; and you now live in the memory of my 
heart more than in my admiration. While I laboured as your assistant, 
my labours were never weary, they were never enough to express my 
thankfulness to God for having associated me with such a man, and my 
affection to the man with whom I was associated, I now labour in 
another field, among a people whom I love, and over whom God hath, 
by signs unequivocal, already blessed my ministry. You go to labour 
likewise in another vineyard, where may the Lord bless your retired 
meditations as he hath blessed your active operations. And may He 
likewise w r atch over the flock of our mutual solicitude, now about to 
fall into other hands. The Lord be with you and your household, and 
render unto you manifold for the blessings which you have rendered 
unto me. I could say much about these Orations which I dedicate to 
you, but I will not mingle with any literary or theological discussion 
this pure tribute of affection and gratitude which I render to you be- 
fore the world, as I have already done into your private ear. I am, my 
honoured friend, yours, in the bonds of the gospel, 

"Edward Irving, 

" Caledonian Church, Hatton Garden, July, 1823." 

The Argument for Judgment to come, a longer and more 
elaborate work, which occupies the larger half of the same 
volume, seems to have been specially suggested to the mind of 
the writer by the two Visions of Judgment of Southey and 
Byron. The profane flattery of the one, most humiliating 
tribute to both giver and receiver which the office of laureate 
has, in recent ages at least, extorted from any poet, and the 
disgusting parody of the other, excited in Irving all the indig- 



86 ASSAILED BY CRITICS. 

nation and repugnance which was natural to a right-thinking 
and pious mind. His feeling on the subject seems warmer 
than those miserable productions were worthy of exciting; 
but it is natural that a contemporary should regard such de- 
gradations of literature with a livelier indignation than it is 
possible to feel when natural oblivion has mercifully swallowed 
them up. The Argument was dedicated, like the Orations, to 
one of his earlier friends, the Rev. .Robert (afterwards well 
known as Dr) Gordon of Edinburgh ; this highest mark of 
regard or gratitude, which it is in an author's power to bestow, 
being in both cases characteristically conferred on men who 
could in no way advance or aid him in his career, but whom he 
distinguished from pure gratitude and friendship only. In- 
scribed with these names, he sent his first venture into the yet 
untried world of literature, exposing himself freely, with all his 
undeniable peculiarities both of mind and diction, to a flood of 
critics, probably never, before or since, so universally excited 
about any volume of religious addresses which ever came from 
the press. 

In spite of the universal assaults made against the book, the 
Orations and Argument ran into a third edition in little more 
than as many months ; and remain, now that all their critics 
are forgotten, among the most notable examples of religious 
eloquence. But it is not our business to criticise these works, 
which have been long before the public, and can be still judged 
on their separate merits. The author, meanwhile, was approach- 
ing a crisis in his life still more important than the publication 
of his first book. Longer than the patriarch he had waited for 
his Eachel : and now an engagement, which had lasted, I be- 
lieve, eleven years, and had survived long separation, and many 
changes, both of circumstances and sentiment, was at length to 
be fulfilled. In the end of September, 1823, Irving left Lon- 
don and travelled by several successive stages to Kirkcaldy, 
where his bride awaited him. 

The Sunday before his marriage, being now no longer a private 
man, with his time at his own disposal, he went to Haddington 
to preach among his early friends. There, where he had made 
his youthful beginning in life, and where, when a probationer, 
he had preached with the ordinary result of half-contemptuous 
toleration, his coming now stirred all the little town into excite- 
ment. The boys who had been his pupils were now men, 
proud to recall themselves to his notice ; and with a warmer 
thrill of local pride, in recollection of his temporary connection 
with their burgh, the people of Haddington welcomed the man 
whom great London had discovered to be the greatest orator 



IRVING 'S MAKRIAGE. 87 

of his day. "Wherever he went, indeed, he was hailed with 
that true Scottish approbation and delight which always hails 
the return of a man who has done his duty by Scotland, and 
made himself famous — a satisfaction no way lessened by the 
recollection that Scotland herself had not been the first to dis 
cover his great qualities. 

"Irving is in Scotland," writes Dr Gordon from Edin- 
burgh to Irving's friend, Mr Story. " I have seen him twice for 
a little. The same noble fellow — and in spite of all his alleged 
egotism, a man of great simplicity and straightforwardness. 
He is to be married to-day, I believe, to Miss Martin, of Kirk- 
caldy." This was on the 13th of October. The long-engaged 
couple were married in that Manse of Kirkcaldy which had 
witnessed so many youthful chapters in Irving's life, and which 
was yet more to be associated with his deepest and most tender 
feelings. They were married by the grandfather of the bride, 
a venerable old man — brother, as I believe has been already 
mentioned, of the celebrated Scotch painter, David Martin, 
whom the imagination of Scotland fondly holds as a second 
Reynolds — and m his own person a man much venerated, the 
father of the clergy in his locality ; in the presence of a body 
of kindred worthy of a family in which three generations 
flourished together. I will not linger upon any description of 
Irving's wife. The character of a woman who has never volun- 
tarily brought herself before the public is sacred to her chil- 
dren and her friends. She stood by her husband bravely 
through every after vicissitude of his life ; was so thorough a 
companion to him, that he confided to her, in detail, all the 
thoughts which occupied him, as will be seen in after letters ; 
received his entire trust and confidence, piously laid him in his 
grave, brought up his children, and lived for half of her life a 
widow indeed, in the exercise of all womanly and Christian 
virtues. If her admiration for his genius, and the short- 
sightedness of love, led her rather to seek the society of those 
who held him in a kind of idolatry, than of friends more likely 
to exert upon him the beneficial influence of equals, and so con- 
tributed to the clouding of his genius, it is the only blame that 
has ever been attached to her. She came of a family who were 
all distinguished by active talent and considerable character ; 
and with all the unnoted valour of a true woman, held on her 
way through the manifold agonies — in her case most sharp and 
often repeated — of life. 

After this event a period of wandering followed, to refresh 
the fatigue of the preacher, after his first year-long conflict 
with that life of London which, sooner or later, kills almost 



88 THE BRIDAL HOLIDAY. 

all its combatants. The bridal pair appear iu glimpses over 
the summer country. One evening, sitting at the window of 
his quiet manse, at the mouth of one of the loveliest and softest 
lochs of Clyde, the minister of Eosneath saw a vast figure ap- 
proaching through the twilight, carrying — an adjunct which 
seems to have secured immediate recognition- — a portmanteau 
on its Herculean shoulder. It was Irving, followed by his 
amused and admiring wife, who had come down from Glasgow 
by one of the Clyde steamers, and had walked with his burden 
from the other side of the little peninsula. " And do you 
mean to say that you have carried that all the way r " cried the 
astonished host as he hastened to welcome his unexpected 
visitors. " And I would like to know," answered the bride- 
groom, with all the gleeful consciousness of strength, stretch- 
ing out the mighty arms which he had just relieved, " which 
of your caitiffs could have carried it better ! " A little later 
the pair are at Annan, awakening in the hearts of young 
nephews and nieces there their earliest recollections of pleasure 
and jubilee. Irving was not preaching, so far as there is any 
record; hs was idling and enjoying himself; and, with him, 
these words meant making others enjoy themselves, and leav- 
ing echoes of holiday everywhere. (So late as the beginning 
of November he was still in Scotland — in Glasgow — where 
Dr Chalmers, at the height of his splendid social experiments, 
and in full possession of his unrivalled influence, a kind of 
prince-bishop in that great and difficult town, had felt his 
strength fail, and — yielding to a natural distaste for the 
atmosphere in which, not following his own inclinations, ex- 
cept in the fashion of his work, he had laboured for years — 
had resigned his great position for the modest tranquillity of 
a professor's chair in St Andrew's, and was just taking leave 
of the people over whom he had held so wonderful a sway. 
There Irving went to listen to the last sermon of his master 
in the ministry. The situation is a' remarkable one. He was 
again to take part in the services in that place where he had 
filled, loyally, yet with many commotions and wistful dissatis- 
faction in his mind, a secondary place, so short a time before. 
A world of difference lay in the year of time which had passed 
since then. Chalmers himself had not turned the head of any 
community as his former assistant had turned the multitudi- 
nous heads of London. The man who had gone away from 
them, forlorn and brave, upon an expedition more like that of 
a forlorn hope than an enterprise justified by ordinary wisdom, 
had come back with all the laurels of sudden fame, a conquer- 
or and hero. Tet here again he stood so entirely in his old 









RE-APPEARANCE IN ST JOHN'S. 89 

place that one can suppose the brilliant interval must have 
looked like a dream to Irving as he gazed upon the crowd of 
familiar faces, and saw himself lost and forgotten, as of old, in 
the absorbing interest with which everybody turned to the 
great leader under whom they had lived and laboured. Had 
he been the egotist he was called, or had he come in any vain- 
glorious hope of confounding those who did not discover his 
greatness, he would have chosen another moment to visit 
Glasgow. But he came in the simplicity of his heart to stand 
by his friend at a solemn moment, as his friend had stood 
by him ; to hear the last sermon, and offer the last good 
wishes. 

This momentary conjunction of these two remarkable men 
makes a picture pleasant to dwell on. Both had now separated 
their names from that busy place ; the elder and greater to 
retire into the noiseless seclusion, or rather into the little 
social " circles " and coteries, of a limited society, and the 
class-rooms of a science that was not even theological ; the 
younger, the secondary and overlooked, to a position much 
more in the eye of the world, more dazzling, giddy, and glori- 
ous than the pulpit of St John's, even while Chalmers occu- 
pied it, could ever have been. At this last farewell moment 
they stood as if that year, so wonderful to one of them, had 
never been ; and Irving, like a true manj stepped back out of 
his elevation, and took loyally his old secondary place. " "When 
Dr Chalmers left the pulpit, after preaching his farewell ser- 
mon," says Dr Hanna, his biographer, " it was entered by the 
Rev. Edward Irving, who invited the vast congregation to ac- 
company him, as with solemn pomp and impressive unction he 
poured out a prayer for that honoured minister of God who 
had just retired from among them." This momentary appear- 
ance in that familiar pulpit, not to display the eloquence which 
had made him famous since he last stood in it, but simply to 
crown with prayers and blessing the farewell of his friend, is 
the most graceful and touching conclusion which could have 
been given to Irving's connection with Glasgow ; or at least — 
since after events have linked his memory for ever with that of 
this great and wealthy town — with the congregation of St 
John's. 

The newly-married pair travelled to London by the paternal 
house in Annan. Accompanied by some of their relations 
from thence, they posted to Carlisle, the modern conveniences 
of travel being then undreamt of. When they were about t< 
cross the Sark, the little stream which at that point divides 
Scotland from England, Irving, with a pleasant bridegroom 



90 HIS DEDICATIONS AND PREFACES GENERALLY. 

fancy, made his young wife alight and walk over the bridge 
into the new country which henceforward was to be her home. 
So this idyllic journey comes to an end. After the bridge of 
Sark and its moorland landscape, we see no more of the tra- 
vellers till they reappear in the bustle of London, where idyls 
have no existence. 

His first occupation — or at least one of the first things 
which occupied him after his return — must have been the 
third edition of his Orations and Argument, with the charac- 
teristic preface which he prefixed to it. The critics who assailed 
him must have been pretty well aware beforehand, from all he had 
said and written, that Irving was not a man to be overawed by 
any strictures that could be made upon him. "When in the heat 
and haste of the moment, one edition pursuing another through 
the press, and one blow after another ringing on his shield, the 
orator seized his flaming pen and wrote defiance to all his op- 
ponents, it is not difficult to imagine the kind of production 
which must have flashed from that pen of Irving. Allowing 
that an author's reply to criticism is always a mistaken and 
imprudent proceeding, and that Irving' s contempt and defiance 
are not written in perfect taste (angry as the expression would 
have made him) or charity, yet we should have been sorry not 
to have had the daring onslaught upon these troublesome 
skirmishers of literature, from whose stings, alas, neither 
greatness nor smallness can defend the unfortunate wayfarer ; 
and the dignified vindication of his own style and diction, 
which is as noble and modest a profession of literary allegiance 
as can be found anywhere. " I have been accused of affecting 
the antiquated manner of ages and times now forgotten," he 
says in his defence. " The writers of those times are too much 
forgotten, I lament, and their style of writing hath fallen out 
of use ; but the time is fast approaching when this stigma 
shall be wiped away from our prose, as it is fast departing 
from our poetry. I fear not to confess that Hooker and Taylor 
and Baxter in Theology, Bacon and Newton and Locke in 
Philosophy, have been my companions, as Shakspeare and 
Spenser and Milton have been in poetry. I cannot learn to 
think as they have done, which is the gift of Grod ; but I can 
teach myself to think as disinterestedly, and to express as 
honestly what I think and feel. "Which I have, in the strength 
of Grod, endeavoured to do." What he said of his critics is 
naturally much less dignified ; but, in spite of a few epithets 
which were much more current in those days than now, the 
whole of this preface, much unlike ordinary prefaces, which 
authors go on writing with an amazing innocent faith in the 



MR BASIL MONTAGU. 91 

attention of the public, and which few people ever dream of 
looking at, is one of the most eloquent and characteristic por- 
tions of the volume. Indeed, I know scarcely any volume of 
Irving's works of which this might not be said. In his dedica- 
tions and prefaces, he carries on a kind of rapid autobiography, 
and takes his reader into his heart and confidence, in those 
singular addresses, in a manner, so far as I am aware, quite 
unprecedented in literature. 

He was now fully launched upon the excitiug and rapid 
course of London life — a life which permits little leisure and 
less tranquillity to those embarked upon it. One of his earliest 
acquaintances was Mr Basil Montagu — in whose hospitable 
house Irving found the kindest reception and the most congenial 
society ; and even more than these, found consolation and 
guidance, when first excited and then disgusted, according to a 
very natural and oft-repeated process, with the blandishments 
of society, and the coldness of those religious circles which 
admit nobody who does not come with certificates of theological 
soundness and propriety in his hand. Mr Montagu drew him 
to his own house, brought him into a circle above fashion, yet 
without its dangerous seductions, and introduced him to Cole- 
ridge and many other notable men. And Irving, brought into 
the warm and aifectionate intercourse of such a household, and 
assisted, moreover, by that glamour which always remained in 
his own eyes and elevated everything he saw, learned to gain 
that acquaintance with men — men of the highest type, men of 
a class with which hitherto he had been unfamiliar, in which the 
hereditary culture of generations had culminated, and which, full 
of thought and ripened knowledge, was not to be moved by ge- 
neralities — which he could not have learned either in his second- 
ary rank of scholarship in Edinburgh, nor among the merchants 
of Glasgow. He saw, but in the best and most advantageous 
way, what every thoughtful mind, which lives long enough, is 
brought to see something of — how deeply nature has to do with 
all the revolutions of the soul ; how men are of an individuality 
all unthought of ; and how mighty an agent, beyond all mights 
of education or training, is constitutional character. In Mr 
Montagu's house he saw " the soil " in many a rich and fruit- 
ful variation, and came to know how, by the most diverse and 
different paths, the same end may be attained. If his natural 
impatience of everything contracted, mean, and narrow-minded 
gained force in this society, it is not a surprising result. But 
he had always been sufficiently ready to contemn and scorn 
common-place boundaries. His friends in Bedford Square, 



92 COLEHIDGE. 

and their friends, taught him to appreciate more thoroughly 
the unities and diversities of man. 

Scarcely any record remains of the intercourse which existed 
between Irving and Coleridge, an intercourse which was begun, 
as has just been seen, by Mr Montagu. It lasted for years, 
and was full of kindness on the part of the philosopher, and of 
reverential respect on that of Irving, who, following the natural 
instinct of his own ingenuous nature, changed in an instant, in 
such a presence, from the orator who, speaking in Grod's name, 
assumed a certain austere pomp of position — more like an 
authoritative priest than a simple presbyter — into the simple 
and candid listener, more ready to learn than he was to teach, 
and to consider the thoughts of another, than to propound his 
own. Nothing, indeed, can be more remarkable, more unlike 
the opinion many people have formed of him, or more true to 
his real character, than the fact, very clearly revealed by all 
the dedicatory addresses to which we have referred, that in his 
own consciousness he was always learning ; and not only so, 
but with the utmost simplicity and frankness acknowledging 
what he had learned. If imagination had anything to do with 
this serious and sad history, it would not be difficult to picture 
those two figures, so wonderfully different, looking down from 
the soft Highgate slopes upon that uneasy world beneath, 
which, to one of them, was but a great field of study, proving, 
as never any collection of human creatures proved before, all 
the grievous but great conclusions of philosophy ; while to the 
other, it raged with all the incessant conflict of a field of battle, 
dread agony of life and death, through which his own cry " to 
the rescue ! " w r as continually ringing, and his own hand 
snatching forth from under trampling feet the wounded and 
the fallen. Here Irving changed the common superficial idea 
of the world's conversion — that belief calmly held or earnestly 
insisted on in the face of acknowledged disappointment in 
many missionary efforts, and the slowness and lingering issues 
of even the most successful, which is common to most churches. 
"That error," as he himself says, "under which almost the 
whole of the Church is lying, that the present world is to be 
converted unto the Lord, and so slide by a natural inclination 
into the Church — the present reign of Satan hastening, of its 
own accord, into the millennial reign of Christ. For this doc- 
trine he learned to substitute the idea of a dispensation draw- 
ing towards its close, and — its natural consequence in a mind 
so full of love to God and man — of an altogether glorious and 
overwhelming revolution yet to come, in which all the dead 



SOCIAL CHARITIES. 93 

society, churches, kingdoms, fashions of this world, galvanically 
kept in motion until the end, should be finally burned up and 
destroyed. Whether this development of wistful and anxious 
faith, and the " deliverance " conveyed by it — or whether that 
more subtle view of the ancient and much-assailed Calvinistic 
doctrine of election, which sets forth Grod's message and mes- 
sengers as specially addressed to "the worthy," and univers- 
ally received by them wherever the message is heard — was the 
substance of what the preacher learned from the poet-philoso- 
pher, there is no information. 

Such was his society and occupations when he returned 
with the companion of his life from Scotland. He brought his 
wife into a house in which the tumult of London was perpetu- 
ally heard ; not into a quiet ecclesiastical society, like that 
which generally falls to the lot of the wives of Scotch ministers, 
but to a much-disturbed dwelling-place, constantly assailed by 
visitors, and invaded by agitations of the world. Among all 
the other excitements of popularity, there came also the pleas- 
ant excitement of a new church about to be built, of size pro- 
portioned to the necessities of the case. The same crowds and 
commotion still surrounded the Caledonian Chapel, but they 
became more bearable in the prospect of more roomy quarters. 
An unfailing succession of private as well as public calls upon 
the kindness, help, and hospitality of a man Avhom everybody 
believed in, and who proffered kindness to all, helped to in- 
crease the incessant motion and activity of that full and un- 
resting life. Thus within eighteen months after his arrival in 
London had the Scotch preacher won the friendship of many 
not specially open to members of his profession and church, 
and made himself a centre of personal beneficences not to be 
counted. If ever pride can be justified, Edward Irving might 
have been justified in a passing thrill of that exultation when 
he brought his wife from the quiet manse which all along had 
looked on and watched his career, not sure how far its daugh- 
ter's future was safe in the hands of a man so often foiled, yet 
so unconquerable, to place her in a position and society which 
few clergymen of his church have ever attained, and indeed 
which few men in any church, however titled or dignified, could 
equal. The peculiarity of his position lay in the fact that this 
singular elevation belonged to himself, and not to his rank, 
which was not susceptible of change ; that his influence was 
extended a thousand-fold, with little addition to his means, and 
none to his station ; and that, while he moved among men of 
the highest intellect and position, neither his transcendent 
popularity nor his acknowledged genius ever changed that pri- 



94 HIS ARDUOUS LABOURS. 

mitive standing-ground of priest and pastor which he always 
held with primitive tenacity. The charm of that conjunction 
is one which the most worldly mind of man cannot refuse to 
appreciate ; and perhaps it is only on the members of a church 
which owns no possibility of promotion, that such a delicate 
and visionary though real rank could by common verdict be 
bestowed. 



CHAPTEB IX. 

1824. 



The year 1824 began with no diminution of those incessant 
labours. It is wonderful how a man of so great a frame, and 
of out-of-door tendencies so strong and long cherished, should 
have been able to bear, as Irving did, confinement in one of the 
most town-like and closely-inhabited regions of London. In 
Pentonville, indeed, faint breaths of country air might at that 
period be supposed to breathe along the tidy, genteel streets ; 
but in Bloomsbury, where many of Irving' s friends resided, or 
in the dusty ranges of Holborn, where his church was, no 
such refreshment can have been practicable. Nor had the 
Presbyterian minister any relief from curates, or assistance of 
any kind. His entire pulpit services — and, according to his 
own confession, his sermons averaged an hour and a quarter in 
length — his prayers, as much exercises of the intellect as of the 
heart, came from his own lips and mind, unaided by the inter- 
vention of any other man ; and besides his literary labours, and 
the incessant demands which his great reputation brought upon 
him, he had all the pastoral cares of his own large congregation 
to attend to, and was ready at the call of the sick, the friend- 
less, and the stranger, whensoever they addressed him. 

His next point of contact with the astonished and critical 
world, which watched for a false step on his part, and was 
ready to pounce upon anything, from an imperfect or com- 
plicated metaphor to an unsound doctrine, occurred in the 
May of this year, when he had been selected to preach one 
of the anniversary sermons of the London Missionary Society. 
The invitation to do this was presumed to be a compliment 
to Irving, and voucher of his popularity, as well as a prudent 
enlistment of the " highest talent," to give attraction to the 



PREPARES TO WRITE A MISSIONARY SOCIETY ORATION. 95 

yearly solemnity of the Society. Had the London committee 
been wise they would scarcely have chosen so daring and 
original an orator to celebrate their anniversary ; since Irving 
was exactly the man whose opinions or sentiments on such a 
topic were not to be rashly predicated. The preliminaries of 
this discourse, as afterwards described by himself, were not 
such as generally usher in a missionary sermon. Instead of 
reading up the records of the society, and making careful 
note of the causes for congratulation and humility, as it 
would have been correct to have done — instead of laying up 
materials for a glowing account of its progress and panegyric 
upon its missionaries, Irving' s preparations ran in the follow- 
ing extraordinary channel : — 

" Having been requested by the London Missionary Society," he 
writes, "to preach upon the occasion of their last anniversary, I 
willingly complied, without much thought of what I was undertaking ; 
but when I came to reflect upon the sacredness and importance of the 
cause given into my hands, and the dignity of the audience before which 
I had to discourse, it seemed to my conscience that I had undertaken a 
duty full of peril and responsibility, for which I ought to prepare 
myself with every preparation of the mind and of the spirit. To this 
end, retiring into the quiet and peaceful country, among a society of 
men devoted to every good and charitable work, I searched the Scrip- 
tures in secret ; and in their pious companies conversed of the convic- 
tions which were secretly brought to my mind concerning the missionary 
work. And thus, not without much prayer to God and self-devotion, I 
meditated those things which I delivered in public before the reverend 
and pious men who had honoured me with so great a trust. 3 ' 

It may easily be supposed that a discourse, thus premedi- 
tated and composed by a man whose youth was full of mis- 
sionary projects such as no practical nineteenth century 
judgment could designate otherwise than as the wildest ro- 
mance, was not likely to come to such a sermon as should 
content the London or any other Missionary Society. It 
was not an exposition of the character of a missionary as ap- 
prehended by an heroic mind, capable of the labours it de- 
scribed, which had been either wished or requested. But the 
directors of the Society, having rashly tackled with a man 
occupied, not with their most laudable pursuits and interests, 
but with the abstract truth, had to pay the inevitable penalty. 
The day came. In preparation for a great audience the 
chapel in Tottenham Court Boad, once known as the Taber- 
nacle, and built for Whitfield, was selected. The day was 
wet and dreary, but the immense building was crowded long 
before the hour of meeting, many finding it impossible to get 



96 MISSIONARY AFTER THE APOSTOLIC SCHOOL. 

admittance. So early was the congregation assembled, that 
to keep so vast a throng occupied, the officials considered it 
wise to begin the preliminary services a full hour before the 
time appointed. When the preacher appeared at last, his 
discourse was so long that he had to pause, according to the 
primitive custom of Scotland, twice during its course, the 
congregation in the intervals singing some verses of a hymn. 
One of the hearers on that occasion tells that, for three hours 
and a half, he, only a youth, and though a fervent admirer of 
the orator, still susceptible to fatigue, sat jammed in and 
helpless near the pulpit, unable to extricate himself. All 
this might have but added to the triumph ; and even so 
early in his career it seems to have been understood of 
Irving, that the necessity of coming to an end did not occur 
to him, and that not the hour, but the subject, timed his ad- 
dresses, so that his audience were partly warned of what 
they had to look for. But the oration which burst upon 
their astonished ears was quite a different matter. It had 
no connection with the London Missionary Society. It was 
the ideal missionary — the Apostle lost behind the veil of 
centuries — the Evangelist commissioned of Grod, who had 
risen out of Scripture and the primeval ages upon the gaze 
of the preacher. He discoursed to the startled throng, met 
there to be asked for subscriptions — to have their interest 
stimulated in the regulations of the committee, and their 
eyes directed towards its worthy and respectable represent- 
atives, each drawing a little congregation about him in some 
corner of the earth — of a man without staff or scrip, with- 
out banker or provision, abiding with whomsoever would 
receive him, speaking in haste his burning message, pressing 
on without pause or rest through the world that lay in wick- 
edness — an Apostle responsible to no man — a messenger of 
the cross. The intense reality natural to one who had all 
but embraced that austere martyr vocation in his own per- 
son, gave force to the picture he drew. There can be little 
doubt that it was foolishness to most of his hearers, and that, 
after the fascination of his eloquence was over, nine-tenths 
of them would recollect, with utter wonder, or even with pos- 
sible contempt, that wildest visionary conception. But that 
it was true for him, nobody, I think, who has followed his 
course thus far, will be disposed either to doubt or to deny. 

The wildest hubbub rose, as was natural, after this extra- 
ordinary utterance ; but through the midst of it all, pre- 
occupied and lost in the contemplation of that most true yet 
most impossible servant of Grod whom he had evoked from 



WRATH OF THE RELIGIOUS WORLD. 97 

the past and the future to which all things are possible, 
Irving, all unaware of the commotion he had caused, went 
on his way, not dreaming that anybody could suppose the 
present machinery and economics of common-place mission- 
ary work injured by that high vision of the perfection of a 
character which has been, and which yet may be again. He 
says, he " was prepared to resist any application which might 
possibly be made to me" to publish his sermon; an entirely 
unnecessary precaution, since the complacency of the Lon- 
don Society evidently did not carry them the length of pay- 
ing the preacher of so unwelcome an address that customary 
compliment. But in the commotion that followed — in the 
vexation and wrath of "the religious world," and the as- 
tonished outcry of everybody connected with missions — the 
preacher, not less astonished than themselves, discovered that 
his doctrine was new, and unwelcome to the reverend and 
pious men for whose hearing he had so carefully prepared it. 
When he heard his high conception of the missionary charac- 
ter denounced as an ill-timed rhetorical display, and that 
which he had devoutly drawn from the only inspired picture 
of such messengers characterized as not only visionary and 
wild, but an implied libel upon their present representatives, 
his sincere heart was roused and startled. He went back to 
his New Testament, the only store of information he knew 
of. He drew forth Paul and Barnabas, Peter and John, first 
missionaries, apostles sent of God. The longer he pondered 
over them the more his picture rose and expanded. "Was 
not the errand the same, the promise of Grod the same ? — and 
why should the character of the individual be so different ? 
The natural result followed ; confirmed by further examina- 
tion, and strengthened by opposition, the sermon enlarged, 
and grew into an appeal to the world. Only the first part 
of this work, intended to be completed in four parts, was ever 
finished, the mind of the preacher being more deeply en- 
grossed from day to day in that law of God which was his 
meditation day and night, and directed ever to new unfolding 
of doctrine and instruction. This publication was dedicated 
to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in the remarkable letter which 
follows : — 

" My deae, and honoured Emend, — Unknown as you are in the 
true character of your mind or your heart to the greater part of your 
countrymen, and misrepresented as your works have been by those who 
have the ear of the vulgar, it will seem wonderful to many that I should 
make choice of you from the circle of my friends, to dedicate to you 
these beginnings of my thoughts upon the most important subject of 

7 



98 DEDICATION TO COLEKIDGE. 

these or any times ; and when I state the reason to be, that you have 
been more profitable to my faith in orthodox doctrine, to my spiritual 
understanding of the Word of God, and to my right conception of the 
Christian Church, than any or all the men with whom I have enter- 
tained friendship and conversation, it will, perhaps, still more astonish 
the mind and stagger the belief of those who have adopted, as once I 
did myself, the misrepresentations which are purchased for a hire and 
vended for a price, concerning your character and works. ... I have 
partaken so much high intellectual enjoyment from being admitted into* 
the close and familiar intercourse with which you have honoured me ; 
and your many conversations concerning the revelations of the Chris- 
tian faith have been so profitable to me in every sense, as a student. 
and preacher of the gospel; as a spiritual man and a Christian pastor ; 
and your high intelligence and great learning have at all times so kindly 
stooped to my ignorance and inexperience, that not merely with the 
affection of friend to friend, and the honour due from youth to ex- 
perienced age, but with the gratitude of a disciple to a wise and 
generous teacher, of an anxious inquirer to the good man who hath 
helped him in the way of truth, I do presume to offer you the first 
fruits of my mind since it received a new impulse towards truth, and a 
new insight into its depths from listening to your discourse. Accept 
them in good part, and be assured that, however insignificant in them- 
selves, they are the offering of a heart which loves your heart, and of a 
mind which looks up with reverence to your mind. 

"Edward Irving." 

These lavish thanks, bestowed with a rash prodigality, 
which men of less generous and effusive temperament could 
never be brought to understand, were, according to all or- 
dinary rules of reason, profoundly imprudent. To put such 
a name as that of Coleridge,* under any circumstances, on a 
work which its author was already assured would be ex- 
amined with the most eager and angry jealousy, and in which 
a great many of his religious contemporaries would but too 
gladly find some suspicious tendency, was of itself imprudent. 
But so, I fear, was the man to whom giving of thanks and 
rendering of acknowledgments was always joyfully congenial. 
It was not in his nature either to guard himself from the 
suspicion of having received more than he really had re- 

* In Leigh Hunt's correspondence, published since the above was written, 
occurs the following notice of this dedication in a letter from Charles Lamb : 
"I have got acquainted with Mr Irving, the Scotch preacher, whose fame 
must have reached you. Judge how his own sectarists must stare when I 
tell you he has dedicated a book to S. T. C, acknowledging to have learnt 
more from him than from all the men he ever conversed with. He is a most 
amiable, sincere, modest man in a room, this Boanerges in the temple. Mrs 
Montagu told him the dedication would do him no good. ' That shall be a 
reason for doing it/ was his answer." The kind Elia adds, " Judge, now, 
whether this man be a quack." 



BIRTH OF LITTLE EDWARD. 99 

ceived, or to provide against the danger of connecting himself 
openly with all whom he loved or honoured. 

This publication was received with shouts of angry criti- 
cism from all sides, and called forth an Expostulatory Letter 
from Mr "W. Orme, the secretary of the outraged Missionary 
Society, which, however, being long ago forgotten, needs not 
to be here discussed. 

A little further on we are introduced into the bosom of 
the modest home in Pentonville, where domestic life and its 
events had now begun to expand the history of the man. 
The swell of personal joy with which the following letter 
breaks into the record of outside events and interests, will 
charm most people who have had occasion to send similar 
announcements. It is addressed to Dr Martin : — 

"Pentonville, 22nd July, 1824. 

" My dear Father, — Isabella was safely delivered of a boy (whom 
may the Lord bless), at half-past eleven this forenoon, and is, with her 
child, doing well ; and the grandmother, aunt, and father newly con- 
stituted, with the mother, are rejoicing in the grace and goodness of 
God. 

"Mrs Martin and Margaret are both well, and salute you grand- 
father, wishing with all our hearts that you may never lay down the 
name, but enjoy it while you live. 

" 1 am well, and I think the pleasure of the Lord is prospering in 
my hand. A wide door and effectual is opened to me, and the Lord is 
opening my own eyes to the knowledge of the truth. Your arrival and 
our great-grandfather's (whom, with all the grand-aunts, salute in our 
name — I know not what they owe us for such accumulated honours) is 
expected with much anxiety. I feel I shall be much strengthened by 
your presence. 

"Your dutiful Son, 

"Edward Irving." 

This child — child of a love, and hope, and sorrow not to 
be described; celebrated, afterwards, as poet's child has 
rarely been, by such sublimated grief and pathetic resignation 
as have wept over few graves so infantine — was afterwards 
baptized, by the great-grandfather above referred to, in the 
presence of the two intermediate generations of his blood. 
The child was called Edward ; and was to his father, with 
emphatic and touching verity, " his excellency and the be- 
ginning of his strength." The little tale of his existence 
sent echoes through all the strong man's life — echoes so ten- 
der and full of such heart-breaking pathos, as I think no 
human sorrow ever surpassed. In the mean time, however, 
all was thankfulness in the increased household; and the 
patriarchal assemblage of kindred, father, and father's father. 



100 A LOST LIFE. 

could have prophesied nothing bnt life and length of days 
to the child of such a vigorous race. 

Along with all the public and domestic occurrences which 
filled this busy life, there are connected such links of charity 
and private beneficence as put richer and idler men to shame. 
Irving's charity was not alms, but that primitive kindness 
of the open house and shared meal, which is of all modes of 
charity the most difficult and the most delicate — a kind 
almost unknown to our age and conventional life. To illus- 
trate this, we may quote one tragical episode, unfortunately 
more common among Scotch families, and, indeed, among 
families of all nations, than it is comfortable to know of: — 
A young man, a probationer of the Church of Scotland, who 
had been unsuccessful in getting a church, or, apparently, in 
getting any employment, had turned such thoughts as he 
had, in the way of literature, and had written and published, 
apparently by subscription, a Treatise on the Sabbath. Having 
exhausted Edinburgh, he came to London, with the vain 
hopes that bring all adventurers there. He seems to have 
had no particular talent or quality commending him to the 
hearts of men. Into London he dropped obscurely, nobody 
there finding anything to respect in his half-clerical pre- 
tensions or unremarkable book. He went to see Irving 
occasionally, and was observed to fall into that dismal shabbi- 
ness which marks the failure of heart and hope in men born 
to better things. Irving had bought his book largely, and 
stimulated others to do the same, and now watched with 
anxiety the failure and disappointment which he could not 
avert. One evening a man appeared at his house with a note, 
which he insisted upon delivering into Irving's own hand. 
The note was from the unfortunate individual whom we have 
just described. It was written in utter despair and shame. 
" The messenger was the landlord of a ' low public-house,' " 
says a lady, a relative of Irving's, then resident in his house, 
and acquainted with the whole melancholy story, " where 

M had been for three days and nights, and had run up 

a bill which he had no means of paying. It appeared that 
he had boasted of his intimacy with Mr Irving, and the man 
had offered to carry a note from him to ' his great friend,' 

who, M declared, would at once release him from such a 

trifling embarrassment. Edward was puzzled what to do, 
but at last resolved to go to the house, pay the bill, and bring 
the unfortunate man home. He went, accordingly, desiring 

me to get a room ready. M was very glad to get his 

bill paid, but would scarcely leave the house, till Edward 



HOSPITALITY. 101 

told him lie would free him only on condition that he came 
with him at once. None of us saw him for a day or two, as 
he was, or pretended to be, so overcome with shame that he 
could not look us in the face. But he soon got over this, and 
joined the family party. Decent clothes were obtained for 
him, and we hoped he was really striving to give up his bad 
habits." This continued for some time, when, " one day, he 
went out after dinner and did not return. Two or three 
days passed, and no account could we obtain of him. At 
last, another note was brought, written in the same self-con- 
demnatory strain, begging for forgiveness and assistance." 
There is little need for following out the sickening story. 
Everywhere there are families who have received the same 
letters, made the same searches, heard the same humiliating 
confessions and entreaties, — but only for those who belong 
to them, whom nature makes dear amid all wretchedness, to 
whom the hearts of mothers and sisters cling, and in whose 
behalf love still hopes against hope, are such cares usually 
undertaken. To do it all for a stranger — to bring the half- 
conscious wretch into a virtuous home, to wile him with do- 
mestic society and comfort, to seek him out again and again, 
pay debts for him, find employments for him, receive his 
melancholy penitences, and encourage Avhat superficial at- 
tempts after good there may be in him — is a charity beyond 
the powers of most men. In rural places, here and there, 
such good Samaritans may be found ; but what man in Lon- 
don ventures to take upon himself such a responsibility? 
This doleful story throws a light upon the private economics 
of the Pentonville house which I should be sorry to lose. 

Those who were in more innocent need were received 
with still more cordial welcomes. Friends pondering where 
to cast their lot — people meditating a change of residence, 
and desirous of seeing how the land lay — found a little 
mount of vision in the house of the great preacher from 
which to investigate and decide. A stream of society thus 
flowed by him, fluctuating as one went and another came. 
If any man among his friends was seized with a thought that 
London might be a sphere more desirable than Edinburgh or 
than Annan, such a person bethought him, naturally, of Ed- 
ward Irving and his hospitable house. The great people who 
sought the great preacher never interfered with the smaller 
people who sought his assistance and his friendship ; and 
those who had no possible claim upon his hospitality got at 
least his good offices and kind words. 

In the middle of the summer, just two years, as he him- 



102 COMMENCEMENT OF THE NEW CHURCH. 

self tells us, from the time of his coming, the foundation- 
stone of his new church was laid. It was planned of a size 
conformable to the reputation of the preacher. This event 
was celebrated by Irving in three sermons — one preached be- 
fore, another after, and the third on occasion of the ceremony 
— in which last he takes pains to describe the discipline and 
practice of that Church of Scotland which stood always high, 
est in his affections ; but, at the same time, speaks of the 
building about to be erected in terms more like those that 
might be used by a Jew in reference to his temple, or by a 
Catholic of his holy shrine, than by Presbyterian lips, which 
acknowledge no consecration of place. Doubtless the sublim- 
ation which everything encountered in his mind, the faculty 
he had of raising all emotions into the highest regions, and of 
covering even the common with an ideal aspect unknown to 
itself, may have raised the expressions of a simple sentiment 
of reverence into this consecrating halo which his words threw 
around the unbuilt church ; but it must not be forgotten 
that from his very outset a certain priestly instinct was in 
the man who bade " Peace be to this house " in every dwell- 
ing he entered, and who gave his benediction, as well as his 
prayers, like a primitive Pope or Bishop, as, indeed, he felt 
himself to be. 

For rest and recreation the little family, leaving London 
in September, paid a short visit to the paternal houses in 
Scotland, and then returned to Dover, where they remained 
for some weeks, and where Irving, never idle, entered fully, 
as he himself relates, into the missionary oration of which we 
have already spoken. At a later period, after having again 
entered into harness, in the November of the same year he 
visited Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool by invita- 
tion, in order to stir up his countrymen there to the support 
and revival of the Church of their fathers, for want of which 
many of them had sunk into indifference, or worse. 

It is naturally to his wife that his letters are now chiefly 
addressed, and the result is, as will be shortly shown, as 
wonderful a revelation of heart and thoughts as one human 
creature ever made to another. By this time the natural 
course of events seems to have withdrawn him in a great de- 
gree from regular correspondence with his friends in Scotland 
— a change which his marriage, and all the revolutions which 
had taken place in his life, as well as the full occupation of 
his time, and the perpetually increasing calls made upon it, 
rendered inevitable. His affections were unchanged, but it 
was no longer possible to keep up the expression of them. 



"in god he lived and moved. " 103 

The new friends who multiplied around him were of a kind 
to make a deep impression upon a mind which was influenced 
more or less by all whom it held in high regard. In dedi- 
cating a volume of sermons to Mr Basil Montagu and his 
wife, he addresses them with the warmest expressions of 
esteem and affection. To Coleridge he had also owned his 
still higher obligations. Another friend, whom his friends 
consider to have had no small influence on Irving, was the 
Bev. "W. Vaughan, of Leicester, an English clergyman, who 
is supposed, I cannot say with what truth, to have been 
mainly instrumental in leading him to some views which 
he afterwards expressed. His distinguished countryman, 
Carlyle, whom, in one of his letters, he playfully refers 
to as " the moralist," not then resident in London, was 
his occasional guest and close friend. Good David "Wilkie, 
and his biographer, Allan Cunningham, were of the less ele- 
vated home society, which again connected itself with the 
lowest homely levels by visitors and petitioners from Glas- 
gow and Annandale. In this wide circle the preacher moved 
with all the joyousness of his nature, never, however, leaving 
it possible for any man to forget that his special character 
was that of a servant of God. The light talk then indulged 
in by magazines, breaks involuntarily into pathos and seri- 
ousness, in the allusions made in Eraser's Magazine, years 
after, to this earty summer of his career. The laughing phi- 
losophers, over their wine, grow suddenly grave as they speak 
of the one among them who was not as other men. "In 
God he lived, and moved, and had his being," says this wit- 
ness, impressed from among the lighter regions of life and 
literature to bear testimony; " no act was done but in prayer ; 
every blessing was received with thanksgiving to God ; every 
friend was dismissed with a parting benediction." The man 
who could thus make his character apparent to the wits of 
his day must have lived a life unequivocal and not to be mis- 
taken. 

It was while living in the full exercise of all those chari- 
ties, happy in the new household and the firstborn child, that 
he worked at the missionary oration, the history of which I 
have already told. Apart from the ordinary comments upon 
and wonderings over the stream of fashion which still flowed 
towards Hatton Garden, this oration was, for that year, the 
only visible disturbing element in his life. 



104 irving's introduction to the study of prophecy. 



CHAPTEE X. 

1825. 

In the beginning of the year 1825, — a year for ever to he 
remembered in Edward Irving's life, and which, indeed, so 
touching, and solemn, and pathetic are all the records of its 
later part, I could almost wish contained no common events, 
but only the apotheosis of love and grief accomplished in it, 
— he was, notwithstanding the sad failure and discomfiture 
of the London Missionary Society in its employment of his 
services, requested to preach for the Continental Society on 
a similar occasion. This Society was held up and maintained 
from its commencement by the nervous strength of Henry 
Drummond, a man already known to the preacher, over whose 
later course he was to exercise so great an influence. Irving, 
remembering the past, was slow to undertake this new com- 
mission, becoming aware, I do not doubt, that his thoughts 
often ran in channels so distinct from those of other men, 
that it was dangerous to be chosen as the mouthpiece of a 
large and varied body. He consented at last, however ; and, 
true to his unfailing conscientious desire to bring out of the 
depths of Scripture all the light which he could perceive it 
to throw upon the subject in hand, his discourse naturally 
came to be upon prophecy. I say naturally, because, in the 
evangelization of the Continent, all the mystic impersona- 
tions of the Apocalypse, — the scarlet woman on her seven 
hills, the ten-horned beast, all the prophetic personages of 
that dread undeveloped drama, — are necessarily involved. 
The manner in which Irving's attention had been, some short 
time before, specially directed to the study of prophecy, is 
however too interesting and characteristic to be passed with- 
out more particular notice. Several years before, Mr Hatley 
Erere, one of the most sedulous of those prophetical students 
who were beginning to make themselves known here and 
there over the country, had propounded a new scheme of 
interpretation, for which, up to this time, he had been unable 
to secure the ear of the religious public. Not less confident 
in the truth of his scheme that nobody shared his belief in 
it, Mr Erere cherished the conviction that if he could but 
meet some man of candid and open mind, of popularity suf- 
ficient to gain a hearing, to whom he could privately explain 
and open up his system, its success was certain. "When 



FASCINATION OF THAT STUDY. 105 

Irving, all ingenuous and ready to be taught, was suddenly 
brought into contact with him, the student of prophecy 
identified him by an instant intuition. — " Here is the man ! " 
he exclaimed to himself; and with all the eagerness of a dis- 
coverer, who seeks a voice by which to utter what he has 
found out, he addressed himself to the task of convincing the 
candid and generous soul which could condemn nothing un- 
heard. He disclosed to his patient hearer all those details to 
which the public ear declined to listen ; and the result was 
that Mr Frere gained a disciple and expositor ; and that an 
influence fatal to his future leisure, and of the most mo- 
mentous importance to his future destiny — which, indeed, it 
is impossible now to disjoin from the man, or to consider his 
life or character apart from — took possession of Irving' s 
thoughts. This new subject naturally connected itself with 
that conviction of an approaching crisis in the fate of the 
world, not mild conversion, but tragic and solemn winding 
up and settlement, which he is said to have derived from 
Coleridge. Henceforward the gorgeous and cloudy vistas of 
the Apocalypse became a legible chart of the future to his 
fervent eyes. 

The fascination of that study, always so engrossing and 
attractive, seized upon him fully ; and when it came to be 
his business to consider the truths best adapted for the in- 
struction and encouragement of a body of Christian men la- 
bouring on behalf of that old Soman world which has long 
been the heart and centre of the earth, his mind passed at 
once into those solemn and mysterious adumbrations of Pro- 
vidence in which he and many other Christian men have be- 
lieved themselves able to trace the very spot, between what 
was fulfilled and what was unfulfilled, in which they them- 
selves stood. Could such a standing ground be certainly 
obtained, who can doubt that here is indeed the guidance of 
all others for any effort of evangelization ? Irving had no 
doubt upon the subject. To him the record was distinct, the 
past apparent, the future to be reverently but clearly under- 
stood. Superficial pious addresses were impossible to a man 
who went into everything with his whole heart and soul. 
His Bible was not to him the foundation from which theology 
was to be proved, but a Divine word, instinct with meaning 
never to be exhausted, and from which light and guidance — 
not vague, but particular — could be brought for every need. 
And the weight of his " calling " to instruct was never ab- 
sent from his mind. To the missionaries, accordingly, he 
brought forth the picture of an apostle ; and opened before 



106 SERMON TO THE CONTINENTAL SOCIETY. 

the eyes of those who aimed at a re-evangelization of old 
Christendom a cloudy but splendid panorama of the fate 
which was about to overtake the sphere of their operations, 
and all the mysterious agencies, half discerned in actual 
presence, and clearly indicated in Scripture, which were be- 
fore them in that difficult and momentous field In a man 
distinguished as an orator this tendency to avoid tne super- 
ficial and go to the very heart, as he understood it, of his 
subject, was neither expected nor recognized by the ordinary 
crowd. In this same spring of 1825, in which he preached 
his prophetical discourse for the instruction of a society en- 
gaged upon the Continent — on the very ground where pro- 
phecy, according to his interpretation, was to be fulfilled — • 
he also preached for the Highland School Society ; a subject 
which might have been supposed very congenial to his heart, 
and in which I have no doubt his audience looked for such 
glowing pictures of Highland glens and mountains, of primi- 
tive faith and picturesque godliness, the romance of religion, 
as pious orators, glad of so fluent a topic of declamation, have 
made customary on such occasions. The orator took no such 
easy and beaten track. He entered into the subject of edu- 
cation with all the conscientiousness of his nature, setting it 
forth fully in a manner which, whatever may be the inevit- 
able expediencies to which modern civilization is driven, must 
command the respect and admiration of everybody who has 
ever thought upon the subject. 

His discourse to the Continental Society, though it did 
not raise such a commotion as the missionary oration, was 
still far from palatable to some of his hearers. " Several of 
the leading members of the committee," we are told, "had 
neither Christian patience nor decorum enough to hear the 
preacher out, but abruptly left the place;" and, from the 
comments that followed, Irving was soon brought to under- 
stand that he had been misapprehended, and that political 
meanings, of which he was innocent, had been suspected in 
his sermon. Catholic Emancipation was then one of the 
questions of the day ; and the advocates of both sides sus- 
pected him, oddly enough, of having supported their several 
views of the matter. At the same time, his heart had gone 
into the task ; he had found in prophetical interpretation a 
study which charmed him deeply, and had felt himself drawn, 
as was natural, into a closer, exclusive fellowship with those 
who pursued the same study and adopted the same views. - 
Urged by his brother-students of prophecy, and inclined of 
himself to give forth those investigations in which he had 



BABYLON AND INFIDELITY FOREDOOMED. 107 

himself been comforted, to the world, he devoted his leisure 
during the year to amplifying and filling out the germ which 
had been in his discourse. " Thus it came to pass," he says in 
the preface, " that to clear myself from being a political par- 
tisan in a ministerial garb, and to gratify the desires of these 
servants of Christ, I set forth this publication on which I 
pray the blessing of Grod to rest." 

He entitled the book, Babylon and Infidelity Foredoomed, 
and dedicated it with his ususal magnanimous acknowledg- 
ment of indebtedness, to the gentleman who had first directed 
his thoughts to the subject. 

" To my beloved friend and brother in Christ, Hatley Frere, Esq. 

" When I first met you, worthy sir, in a company of friends, and 
moved, I know not by what, asked you to walk forth into the fields 
that we might commune together, while the rest enjoyed their social 
converse, you seemed to me as one who dreamed, while you opened in 
my ear your views of the present time, as foretold in the Book of 
Daniel and the Apocalypse. But being ashamed of my own ignorance, 
and having been blessed from my youth with the desire of instruction, 
I dared not to scoff at what I heard, but resolved to consider the 
matter. More than a year passed before it pleased Providence to bring 
us together again, at the house of the same dear friend and brother in 
the Lord, when you answered so sweetly and temperately the objec- 
tions made to your views, that I was more and more struck with the 
outward tokens of a believer in truth ; and I was again ashamed at my 
own ignorance, and again resolved to consider the matter ; after which 
I had no rest in my spirit until I waited upon you and offered myself 
as your pupil, to be instructed in prophecy according to your ideas 
thereof ; and for the ready good- will with which you undertook, and the 
patience with which you performed this kind office, I am for ever be- 
holden to you, most dear and worthy friend. . . . For I am not willing 
that any one should account of me as if I were worthy to have had 
revealed to me the important truths contained in this discourse, which 
may all.be found written in your 'Treatise on the Prophecies of 
Daniel ; ' only the Lord accounted me worthy to receive the faith of 
these things which He first made known to you, His more worthy 
servant. And if He make me the instrument of conveying that faith 
to any of His Church, that they may make themselves ready for His 
coming, or to any of the world, that they may take refuge in the ark of 
His salvation from the deluge of wrath which abideth the impenitent, 
to His name shall all the praise and glory be ascribed by me, His un- 
worthy servant, who, through mercy, dareth to subscribe himself, your 
brother in the bond of the Spirit, and the desire of the Lord's coming, 

"Edwaud Irving." 

Of a very different character is the next incident which 
we find in this history. An account of " an afternoon spent 
in his society among the poor of London," which appeared 



108 irving's "way." 

some years since in the pages of the Free Church Magazine, 
gives a quaint picture at once of the disabilities and mistakes 
of ordinary visitors of the poor, and of Irving's entire capacity 
for that noble and difficult office. Some ladies in the city 
had established an infant school in the district of Billings- 
gate, and finding themselves quite unsuccessful in persuading 
the people to send their children to it, applied to Irving to 
help them. He, at the height of his splendid reputation, 
whom critics had assailed with accusations of indifference to 
the poor, immediately consented to give his aid in this humble 
mission. He went with them, accordingly, through the dis- 
trict. In the first house he left the explanation of their 
errand to his female clients, and speedily discovered the mis- 
take these good people made. The scene is full of comic 
elements, and one can scarcely refrain from imagining the 
appearance that such a group must have presented: the 
city ladies, important in their mission, impressing upon the 
hesitating, half-affronted mother, into whose room they had 
made their way, all the charitable advantages which they 
had ordained for her children, — and the great figure of the 
preacher standing by, letting them have their own way, 
doubtless not without amusement in his compassionate eyes. 
When they came to the second house, he took the office of 
spokesman upon himself. " When the door was opened, he 
spoke in the kindest tone to the woman who opened it, and 
asked permission to go in. He then explained the intention 
of the ladies, asked how many children she had, and whether 
she would send them ? A ready consent was the result ; and 
the mother's heart was completely won Avhen the visitor took 
one of her little ones on his knee, and blessed her." The 
city ladies were confounded. They had honestly intended to 
benefit the poor, very, very distantly related to them by way 
of Adam and the forgotten patriarchs — but the cheerful 
brotherhood of the man who had blessed the bread of the 
starving Grlasgow weavers was as strange to them as if he 
had spoken Hebrew instead of English. " Why, Mr Irving," 
exclaimed one of the ladies when they got into the street, 
" you spoke to that woman as if she were doing you a favour, 
and not you conferring one on her ! How could you speak so ? 
and how could you take up that child on your knee ? " " The 
woman," he replied, " does not as yet know the advantages 
which her children will derive from your school ; by-and-by 
she will know them, and own her obligations to you ; and in 
so speaking and in blessing her child, I do but follow the ex- 
ample of our Lord, who blessed the little ones, the lambs of 



HIS MANNER OF LIFE. 109 

His flock." In another house the children had beautiful hair, 
which the benevolent visitors, intent on doing good after their 
own fashion, insisted on having cut short as a preliminary of 
admission. The great preacher lifted the pretty curls in his 
hand and pleaded for them, but in vain. When they were 
denied admission at one house, he left his benediction to the 
unseen people within, and passed on. On the whole, his 
companions did not know what to make of him. Irving' s 
fashion of visiting "the poor" was unknown in Billingsgate. 

A word or two as to the most modest and primitive life 
led by the subject of our memoir will not be out of place 
here. I give it on the authority of one of his nearest rela- 
tives, a lady, who frequently lived in his house. "Mr Irving's 
rule was to see any of his friends who wished to visit him 
without ceremony at breakfast. Eight o'clock was the hour. 
Family worship first, and then breakfast. At ten he rose, 
bade every one good-bye, and retired to his study. He gave 
no audience again till after three. Two o'clock was the din- 
ner hour; and, after that, should no one come to prevent 
him, he generally walked out, Mrs Irving accompanying him; 
and, until the baby took hooping-cough, Mr Irving almost 
always carried him in his arms. Some people laughed at 
this, but that he did not care for in the very least." To see 
the great preacher admired and flattered by the highest per- 
sonages in the kingdom, marching along the Pentonville 
streets with his baby, must have been a spectacle to make 
ordinary men open their eyes. An amusing personal anec- 
dote, belonging to a similar period, comes from the same 
authority. His indifference to money has been visible with 
suflicient distinctness throughout his life ; but, after his mar- 
riage, according to a primitive habit most worthy of imita- 
tion, he committed the charge of his finances entirely to the 
prudence of his wife, and carried sometimes only the smallest 
of coins, sometimes nothing at all, in his own private purse. 
This habit sometimes brought him into situations of amusing 
embarrassment. On one occasion he had left home to visit 
a member of his congregation somewhere on the line of the 
New Road ; but, finding himself late, took, without consider- 
ing the state of his pocket, the Paddington coach, omnibuses 
having not yet come into fashion. As soon as the vehicle 
was on its way, the unlucky passenger recollected that he was 
penniless. His dismay at the thought was overwhelming, 
but soon brightened with a sudden inspiration. Looking 
around him, he artfully fixed upon the most benevolent look- 
ing face he saw, and poured his sorrows into his fellow-travel- 



110 HIS LETTER OF WELCOME TO HIS WIFE. 

ler's ear. " I told him that I was a clergyman," was the ac- 
count he gave to his amused home audience ; " that, since I 
had obtained a wife from the Lord, I had given up all con- 
cern with the things of this world, leaving my purse in my 
wife's hands ; and that to-day I had set out to visit some of 
my flock at a distance, without recollecting to put a shilling 
in my purse for the coach." The good man thus addressed 
was propitious, and paid the fare. But the honour due to 
such a good Samaritan is lessened when we learn that the 
preacher's remarkable appearance, and scarcely less extraor- 
dinary request, betrayed him ; and the stranger had the 
honour and satisfaction, for his sixpence, of making the ac- 
quaintance of Edward Irving. 

Early in this summer, clouds began to appear in the fir- 
mament of the new household. The baby, so joyfully wel- 
comed and dearly prized, was seized with hooping-cough. 
And, in the end of June, Mrs Irving, then herself in a deli- 
cate condition of health, accompanied by her sister, took 
little Edward down to Scotland, to the peaceful manse of 
Kirkcaldy, for change of air. The following letter was writ- 
ten immediately after the departure of the travellers : — 

"London, Friday Afternoon ; July 1st, 1825. 

"My dear Isabella and beloved wife, I suppose, by the 
time this arrives in Kirkcaldy, you will be arrived, and little Edward, 
and our dear brother and sister, and faithful Mary; and, because I 
cannot be there to welcome you in person to your father's house, I send 
this my representative to take you by the hand, to embrace you by the 
heart, and say welcome, thrice welcome, to your home and your 
country, which you have honoured by fulfilling the duties of a wife and 
mother well and faithfully — the noblest duties of womanhood. And 
while I say this to yourself, I take you to your father and mother, and 
say unto them : "Receive, honoured parents, your daughter — your 
eldest-born child — and give her double honour as one who hath been 
faithful and dutiful to her husband, and brings with her a child to bear 
down your piety, and faith, and blessedness to other generations, if it 
please the Lord. Thus I fulfil the duty of restoring with honour and 
credit — well due and well won— one whom I received from their house 
as its best gift to me. 

" When I returned, I went solitary to Mrs Montagu's, who was 
pleased with your letter, in order to see whether I was expected at 

Highgate. ... So to Highgate E and I hied, and we found the 

sage,* as usual, fall of matter. He talked with me privately about_ his 
own spiritual concerns, and I trust he is in the way of salvation, 
although I see that he has much to prevail against, as we have all. . . 
I have pastoral work for all next week but Thursday, and shall con- 

* Coleridge, then living at Highgate with his friends, the Gillmans. 



BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. Ill 

tinue so until I remove. To-day I have been busy with my first dis- 
course upon the 'Will of the Father/ which I pray you to study 
diligently in the Gospel by John i. 13, 14 ; v. 20, 21 ; vii. 37, 44, 65 ; 
viii. 16, 19, 26, 28 ; x. 27, 29 — and all those discourses study, if you 
would know the precedency which the will of the Father hath of the 
preaching of the Son, and how much constant honour you must give to 
it, in order to be a disciple of Christ. My head is wearied, and with 
difficulty directeth my hand to write these few words, which I am 
moved to by my affection to you as my wife, and my desire after you as 
a saint. Therefore, I conclude hastily, with my love to our dear 
parents, brothers, and sisters, and all our kindred. The Lord preserve 
my wife and child I 

" Your faithful husband, 

"Edward Irving." 

It appears from the letters of this period that Irving had 
already found his way to those views of baptism which he 
did not publish to the world till some time after. The in- 
stincts of fatherhood had quickened his mind in his investi- 
gations. He had found it impossible, when his thoughts 
were directed to this subject, to rest in the vagueness of or- 
dinary conceptions. "We assuredly believe that by baptism 
we are ingrafted in Christ Jesus," says simply that ancient, 
primitive confession to which his heart turned as the clearest, 
simple utterance, uncontroversial and single-minded, of the 
national faith. When Irving turned towards that question, 
he " assuredly believed " the canon he had subscribed at his 
ordination ; and receiving it with no lukewarm and indif- 
ferent belief, but with a faith intense and real, came to re- 
gard the ordinance in so much warmer and clearer a light 
than is usual in his Church, that his sentiments seem to have 
differed from those of the High Church party of England, 
who hold baptismal regeneration, by the merest hair's-breadth 
of distinction — a distinction which indeed I confess myself 
unable to appreciate. This intensified and brightened appre- 
hension, which made the ordinance not a sign only, nor a vague- 
ly mysterious conjunction of sign and reality, but an actual, 
effectual sacrament, rejoiced the new-made father to the bot- 
tom of his heart. His soul expanded in a deeper tenderness 
over the chrisom child, whom he " assuredly believed "to be 
"ingrafted in Christ Jesus." Tears afterwards, he makes 
a touching acknowledgment of gratitude for this insight — ■ 
given, as in the fervour and simplicity of his heart he be- 
lieved it to be, as a strengthening preparation against the 
sharpest personal anguish of life. 

In the months of July and August he remained alone in 
London, living in the house of his friends Mr and Mrs Mon- 



112 little Edward's illness and death. 

tagu, and proceeding vigorously, as has been seen, in his la- 
bours — with no serious fears respecting the boy who was so 
dear to his heart, of whom he had received comforting news. 
In the beginning of September he went to Scotland to join 
his wife, who was then in expectation of the birth of her 
second child. But, with the cold autumn winds, trouble and 
fear came upon the anxious household. The baby, Edward, 
had rallied so much as to make them forget their former fears 
on his account ; but it was only a temporary relief. On the 
second day of October, a daughter was born; and for ten 
days longer, in another room of the house, separated from 
the poor mother, who for her other baby's sake was not per- 
mitted ever again, in life, to behold her first-born, little Ed- 
ward lingered out the troubled moments, and died slowly in 
his father's agonized sight. The new-born infant was bap- 
tized on Sunday, the 9th October, for a consolation to their 
hearts ; and on the 11th her brother died. Dr Martin, of 
Kirkcaldy, writing to his father — the venerable old man who 
had baptized little Edward, his descendant of the fourth gen- 
eration — describes with tears in his voice, how, sitting beside 
the little body, he could do nothing but kneel down and 
weep, till reminded of the words used by the child's father 
" in a sense in which, probably, they have not often been ap- 
plied, but the force of which, at the moment, was very 
striking, when he saw all about him dissolved in tears, on 
viewing the dear infant's cruel struggle, ' Look not at the 

things which are seen, but at those which are unseen! '" 

" Edward and Isabella," he continues, " both bear the stroke, 

though sore, with wonderful resignation Two nights 

ago they resolved, in their conference and prayers concern- 
ing him, to surrender him wholly to Grod — to consider him 

as not their child, but Grod's When her husband 

came down-stairs to-day, he said, in reply to a question from 
her mother, ' She is bearing it as well as one saint could wish 
to see another do.' — Blessed be the Holy Name ! David will 
tell you that the little Margaret was received into the Church 
visible on Sabbath afternoon. ... I should have said, that 
when assembled to worship as a family, after all was over, 
Mr Irving, before I began to pray, requested leave to address 
us ; and he addressed us, all and several, in the most affec- 
tionate and impressive manner. The Lord bless and fix his 
words ! In testimony of his gratitude for the consolation 
afforded him and his wife, he has gone out to visit and com- 
fort some of the afflicted around us." 

The manner in which Irving himself announced this first 



irving's announcement of his child's death. 113 

interruption of his family happiness, with an elevation and 
ecstasy of grief which I do not doubt will go to the hearts 
of all who have suffered similar anguish, as indeed the writer 
can scarcely transcribe it without tears, will be seen by the 
following letter, addressed to "William Hamilton, and written 
on the day of death itself: — ■ 

"Kirkcaldy, 11th October, 1825. 

"Our dearly-beloved Friend, The hand of the Lord hath 
touched my wife and me, and taken from us our well-beloved child, 
sweet Edward, who was dear to you also, as he was to all who knew 
him. But before taking him, He gave unto us good comfort of the 
Holy Ghost, as He doth to all His faithful servants ; and we are com- 
forted, verily we are comforted. Let the Lord be praised, who hath 
visited the lowly, and raised them up ! 

" If you had been here yesterday and this day when our little babe 
was taken, you would have seen the stroke of death subdued by faith, 
and the strength of the grave overcome ; for the Lord hath made His 
grace to be known unto us in the inward part. I feel that the Lord 
hath well done in that He hath afflicted me, and that by His grace I 
shall be a more faithful minister unto you, and unto all the flock com- 
mitted to my charge. Now is my heart broken — now is its hardness 
melted ; and my pride is humbled, and my strength is renewed. The 
good name of the Lord be praised ! 

" Our little Edward, dear friend, is gone the way of all the earth ; 
and his mother and I are sustained by the Prince and Saviour who hath 
abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. The affec- 
tion which you bear to us, or did bear towards the dear child who is 
departed, we desire that you will not spend it in unavailing sorrow, but 
elevate it unto Him who hath sustained our souls, even the Lord our 
Saviour Jesus Christ ; and if you feel grief and trouble, oh, turn the 
edge of it against sin and Satan to destroy their works, for it is they 
who have made us to drink of this bitter cup. 

"Communicate this to all our friends in the congregation and 
church, as much as may be, by the perusal of this letter, that they may 
know the grace of God manifested unto us ; and oh, William Hamilton, 
remember thyself, and tell them all that they are dust, and that their 
children are as the flowers of the field. 

" Nevertheless, God granting me a safe journey, I will preach at 
the Caledonian church on Sabbath, the 23rd, though I am cut off from 
my purpose of visiting the churches by the way. The Lord be with 
you, and your brethren of the eldership, and all the church and con- 
gregation. 

" Your affectionate friend, 

"Edward Irving. 

" My wife joining with me." 

With such an ode and outburst of the highest strain of 
grief, brought so close to the gates of heaven, that the dazzled 
mourner, overpowered with the greatness of the anguish and 

b 



114 little edward's memory. 

the glory, sees the Lord within, and takes a comfort more 
pathetic than any lamentation, was the child Edward buried. 
He was but fifteen months old ; but either from his natural 
loveliness, or from the subliming influence of his father's love 
and grief, seems to have left a memory behind him as of the 
very ideal and flower of infancy. By his father and mother 
the child was always held in pathetically thankful remem- 
brance. " Little Edward, their fairest and their first," writes 
one of Mrs Irving's sisters, " never lost his place in their af- 
fections. Writing of one of her little ones, some years after- 
wards, my sister said, ' I have said all to you when I tell you 
that we think her very like our little Edward;'" and the 
same lady tells us of Irving's answer to somebody who ex- 
pressed the superficial and common wonder, so often heard, 
that helpless babies should grow up to be the leaders and 
guides of the world, in words similar to those which break 
from him in his Preface to Ben-Ezra : " Whoso studieth as I 
have done, and reflecteth as I have sought to reflect, upon 
the first twelve months of a child ; whoso hath had such a 
child to look and reflect upon, as the Lord for fifteen months 
did bless me withal (whom I would not recall, if a wish could 
recall him, from the enjoyment and service of our dear Lord), 
will rather marvel how the growth of that wonderful creature, 
which put forth such a glorious bud of being, should come to 
be so cloaked by the flesh, cramped by the world, and cut 
short by Satan, as not to become a winged seraph ; will rather 
wonder that such a puny, heartless, feeble thing as manhood 
should be the abortive fruit of the rich bud of childhood, 
than think that childhood is an imperfect promise and open- 
ing of the future man. And therefore it is that I grudged 
not our noble, lovely child, but rather do delight that such a 
seed should blossom and bear in the kindly and kindred 
paradise of my Gk>d. And why should not I speak of thee, 
my Edward ! seeing it was in the season of thy sickness and 
death the Lord did reveal in me the knowledge and hope and 
desire of His Son from heaven ? Glorious exchange ! He 
took my son to His own more fatherly bosom, and revealed 
in my bosom the sure expectation and faith of His own 
eternal Son : Dear season of my life, ever to be remembered, 
when I knew the sweetness and fruitfulness of such joy and 
sorrow." 

I cannot doubt that the record of this infant's death, and 
the traces it leaves upon the life and words of his sorrowful 
but rejoicing father, will endear the great orator to many 
sorrowful hearts. So far as I can perceive, no other event 



IRVING VISITS THE SORROWFUL IN KIRKCALDY. 115 

of his life penetrated so profoundly the depths of his spirit. 
And I cannot think it is irreverent to lift the veil, now that 
both of those most concerned have rejoined their children, 
from that sanctuary of human sorrow, faith, and patience. 
Those of us who know such days of darkness may take some 
courage from the sight. And such of my readers as may 
have become interested in the domestic portions of this 
history will be pleased to hear that the little daughter, born 
under such lamentable circumstances, lived to grow up into 
a beautiful and gifted woman, brightened her father's house 
during all his life-time, and died — happily not long before her 
much-tried and patient mother. 

Irving remained in Kirkcaldy about a week after this sad 
event ; during which time he occupied himself, " in gratitude 
for the comfort he had himself received," as it is pathetically 
said, in visiting all who were sorrowful in his father-in-law's 
congregation. Then, leaving his wife to perfect her slow and 
sad recovery in her father's house, until she and the new- 
born infant, now doubly precious, were fit to travel, he went 
away sadly by himself, to seek comfort and strength in a 
solitary journey on foot — an apostolical journey, in which he 
carried his Master's message from house to house, along the 
way — to his father's house in Annan. Mrs Irving and her 
child remained for some time in Scotland ; and to this cir- 
cumstance we owe a closer and more faithful picture of 
Irving' s life and heart than anything which a biographer 
could attempt ; than anything, indeed, which, so far as I am 
aware, any man of modern days has left behind him. 



OHAPTEE XI. 

JOURNAL. 



The correspondence which follows needs neither intro- 
duction nor comment. No one who reads it will need to be 
told how remarkable it is. It was Irving's first long separa- 
tion from his wife, and his heart was opened and warmed by 
that touch of mutual sorrow which gives a more exquisite 
closeness to all love. This perfect revelation of a man's heart 
and of a husband's trust and confidence, is given by permis- 
sion of the remaining children of his house. It will be seen 



116 WANDERINGS AMONG THE HILLS. 

to begin from the time of his leaving Kirkcaldy, after the 
sorrows above recorded. 

"Annan, 18th October, 1825. 

" My dearest Wife, — I am grieved that 1 should have missed this 
day's post, by the awkwardness of the hour of making up the bag at 
noon precisely, beyond which I was carried, before I knew that it was 
past, by the many spiritual duties to which I felt called in my father's 
house and my sister's. . . . But I know my dear Isabella will not 
grieve half so much on this account as I have done myself. . . . And 
now, having parted with all the household, I sit down here, at the 
solemn hour of midnight, to write you how it is with me, and has been 
since I left you, first praying that this may find you and our dear babe 
as I left you, increased in strength. 

" Andrew bore me company to Peebles, and will inform you of my 
journey so far. We parted at two o'clock on the south side of Peebles 
Bridge, and I took my solitary way up Glen Sark, calling at every 
shepherd's house along my route, to obtain an opportunity of ad- 
monishing mother and children of their mortality, and so proceeded till 
I set my face to climb the hill which you must pass to get out of the 
glen. In ascending which, I had the sight and feeling of a new 
phenomenon among the mountains, a terrible hail-storm, which swept 
down the side of the opposite mountain, and came upon me with such a 
violence as required all my force of hand and foot to keep erect, ob- 
literating my meagre path, and leaving me in the wildest mountain, 
wholly at a nonplus, to steer my way ; until the sun breaking out, or 
rather streaking the west with a bright light, I found myself holding 
right east instead of south, and night threatening to be upon me before 
I could clear the unknown wild. I was lonely enough ; but, committing 
my way unto the Lord, I held south as nearly as I could guess, and 
reached the solitary house in the head of another water, of which Sam 
may recollect something ; where, for gathering with a shepherd, I got 
directions, and set my breast against Black-house heights, and reached 
my old haunts on Douglas Burn, where, in answer to the apostolic 
benediction which I carried everywhere, I received a kindly offer of tea, 
night's lodging, then a horse to carry me through the wet, all of _ which 
in my haste refusing, I took my way over the rough grounds which lie 
between that and Dryhope by Loch St Mary. My adventures here 
with the Inverness-shire herds and the dogs of Dryhope Tower (a per- 
fect colony, threatening to devour me with open mouth), I cannot go 
into, and leave it to the discourse of the lip. Here I waded the Yarrow 
at the foot of the loch, under the crescent moon, where, finding a con- 
venient rock beneath some overhanging branches which moaned and 
sighed in the breeze, I sat me down, while the wind, sweeping, brought 
the waters of the loch to my feet; and I paid my devotions to the 
Lord in his own ample and magnificent temple ; and sweet meditations 
were afforded me of thee, our babe, and our departed boy. My soul 
was filled with sweetness. e I did not ask for a sign,' as Colonel Black- 
adder says ; but when I looked up to the moon, as I came out from 
the ecclesia of the rock, she looked as never a moon had looked before 
in my eye, — as if she had been washed in dew, which, speedily clearing 






AN APOSTOLIC JOURNEY. 117 

off, she looked so bright and beautiful; and on the summit of the 
opposite hill a little bright star gleamed upon me, like the bright, 
bright eye of our darling. Oh, how I wished you had been with me to 
partake the sweet solacement of that moment ! Of my adventure with 
the shepherd-boy Andrew, whose mother's sons were all squandered 
abroad among the shepherds, and our prayer upon the edge of the 
mountain, and my welcome at the cottage, and cold reception at the 
farm-house, I must also be silent, till the living pen shall declare them 
unto you. Only, I had trial of an apostolic day and night, and slept 
sweetly, after blessing my wife and child. Next day I passed over to 
the grave of Boston, at Ettrick, where I ministered in the manse to 
the minister's household, and tracked my way up into Eskdale, where, 
after conversing with the martyr's tomb (Andrew Hyslop's), I reached 
the "Ware about half an hour after George, who had brought a gig up 
to Grange, and from that place had crossed the moor to meet me ; and 
by returning upon his steps, we reached home about eleven o'clock. 
But such weather ! I was soaked, the case of my desk was utterly 
dissolved, and the mechanical ingenuity of Annan is now employed con- 
structing another. But I am well, very well ; and for the first time 
have made proof of an apostolical journey, and found it to be very, 
very sweet and profitable. Whether I have left any seed that will 
grow, the Lord only knows. 

" Many, many are the tender and loving sympathies towards you 
which are here expressed, and many the anxious wishes for your wel- 
fare and hope of seeing you, when, without danger, you can undertake 

it I shall never forget, and never repay, the tender attentions of 

all your dear father's household to me and mine. The Lord remember 
them with the love He beareth to His own. I affectionately, most af- 
fectionately salute them all The Lord comfort and foster your 

spirit. The Lord enrich our darling, and make her a Mary to us. . . . 
" Your most affectionate husband, 

"Edward Irving." 



" Carlisle, 21st October, 1825. 
" My dear Isabella, — Thus far I am arrived safely, and find that 
my seat is taken out in the London mail to-morrow evening at seven 
o'clock. I left all my father's family in good health, full of affection to 
me, and, I trust, not without faith and love towards God. Mr Eer- 
gusson and Margaret and the two eldest boys came down from Dum- 
fries on Wednesday, and added much to our domestic enjoyment, which, 
but for the pain of parting so soon, was as complete as ever I had felt 
it ; for, though my heart was very cold, I persevered, by the force, I 
fear, rather of strong resolution than of spiritual affection, to set before 
them their duties to God and to the souls of their children. They 
spoke all very tenderly of you, and feel much for your weal, and long 
for the time when they shall be able to comfort you in person. Thomas 
Carlyle came down to-day, and edified me very much with his discourse. 

Dr Duncan came down with C M , who, poor lad, seems fast 

hastening into one of the worst forms of Satanic pride. He desires 
solitude, he says, and hates men. 



118 INCIDENTS OF A STAGE-COACH JOURNEY. 

' f Your short pencilled note was like honey to my soul ; and though 
I have not had the outpouring of soul for you, little baby, and myself 
which I desire, I hope the Lord will enable me this night to utter my 
spiritual affections before His throne. I am an unworthy man — a poor 
miserable servant, — unworthy to be a doorkeeper ; how unworthy to be 
a minister at the altar of His house ! I shall write you when I reach 
London. Till then may the Lord be your defence, my dear lamb's 
nourishment and strength, Mary's encouragement, and the sustenance 
of your unworthy head. Rest you, my dear, and be untroubled till the 
Lord restore your health; then cease not to meditate upon, and to 
seek the improvement of our great trial, which may I never forget, and 
as oft as I remember, exercise an act of submission unto the will of 
God. This is written at the fire of the public room among my fellow- 
travellers. The Laird of Dornoch, Tristram Lowther the wilful, where 
I waited for the coach, expressed a great desire that, when you came to 

the country, you would visit him 

" Your true and faithful husband, 

"Edward Irving. 

" Myddleton Terrace, 25th October, 1825. 

" My deae, Wipe, beloved in the Lord, — I bless you and our little 
child, and pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with 
you and all the house. 

" I reached London late [eleven o'clock] on Saturday night, by the 
good preservation of God, — to which, when I sought at times to turn 
the minds of my fellow-travellers, I seemed unto them as one that 
mocked : but though we were a graceless company, we were preserved 
by the Lord. On our journey there occurred nothing remarkable ex- 
cept one thing, which, for its singular hospitality, I resolved to recount 
to you. Our road lay through Rutlandshire, and half way between 
Uppingham and Kettering, there appeared before us, on the top of a 
hill, an ancient building, but not like any castle which I had ever seen 
before, — being low and irregular, and covering a deal of ground, and 
built, you would say, more for hospitality and entertainment than 
strength. I make no doubt, from the form of the structure, it is as 
old as the Saxon times, and belonged to one of those franklins of whom 

Walter Scott speaks in ' Ivanhoe.' Now mark, when our road, 

swinging up the hill, came to the gate of this mansion, which was 
a simple gate, — not a hold, or any imitation of a hold, of strength, — to 
my astonishment, the guard of the mail descended and opened the gate, 
and in we drove to the park and gate of the castle, where they were 
cutting wood into billets, which were lying in heaps, for the sake of the 
poor in the village beneath the hill. One of these billets they laid in 
the wheel of the coach, for the hill is very steep ; and while I meditated 
what all this might mean, thinking it was some service they were going 
to do for the family, out came from a door of the castle a very kindly- 
looking man, bearing in a basket bread and cheese, and in his hand a 
pitcher full of ale, of which he kindly invited us all to partake, and of 
which we all partook most heartily, for it was now past noon, and we 
had travelled far since breakfast — from Nottingham. ... So here I paid 
my last farewell to ale, and am now a Nazarite to the sense. Oh that 



ARRIVAL AT HOME. 119 

the Lord would make me a Nazarite indeed from all lusts of the flesh ! 

Remember this hospitable lord in your prayers. He is my Lord 

Sondes, and his place is Rockingham Castle. The Mail-coach hath this 
privilege from him at all times, and I understand, during the great fall 
of snow, he took the passengers in, and entertained them for several 
days, until they were able to get forward. 

" I arrived, I say, at eleven o'clock, and Alexander Hamilton was 
waiting- for me at the Angel, with whom I walked to this house of 
mourning, and found Hall getting better, and all things prepared by his 
worthy wife for my comfort. So here I am resolved to abide, and me- 
ditate my present trials and widowhood for a time. But I forget not, 
morning and evening, to bless you, and our dear little lamb, and Mary, 
our faithful servant, and to sue for blessings to you all from the Lord ; 
and truly I feel very lonely to ascend those stairs, and lie down upon 
my lonely bed. But the Lord filled me with some strong consolations 
when I thought that a spirit calling me father, and thee mother, might 
now be ministering at His throne. I do not remember ever being so 
uplifted in soul. Yesterday I travailed much in spirit for the people, 
and preached to them with a full heart ; that is, compared with myself ; 
but measured by the rule of Christian love, how poor, how cold, how 
sinful ! This morning I have had the younger Sottomayor* with me. 
Would you cause inquiries to be made what likelihood there is of his 

succeeding as a Spanish teacher in Edinburgh ? Before setting 

out, I resolved to write you, however briefly, that your heart might be 
comforted ; for are not you my chief comfort ? and ought not I to be 
yours, according to my ability ? I assure you, all the people were glad 
to see me back again, and condoled with us with a great grief. The 
Lord bless them with all consolations in their day of affliction. The 
church was as usual very crowded, and I had much liberty of utterance 

granted me of the Lord I desire my love to your dear father 

and mother, and my most dutiful obedience as a son of their house. My 
brotherly affection to all your sisters, who were parents to our Edward ; 
and to our brothers, who loved him as their own bowels. Oh, forget 
not any of you the softening chastisement of the Lord. Walk in His 
fear, and let your hearts be comforted. 

" Your most affectionate husband and pastor of your soul, 

" Edward Irving." 

" Say to Mary : c Pray for the Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, 
which proceedeth from the Father.' " 

* This was one of two brothers, Spaniards, the elder of whom had been 
abbot of a monastery, and had more than once been intrusted with missions 
to Eome. He had been enlightened by a copy of the Bible in the library of 
his convent, and after a while had been obliged to flee from the terrors of the 
Inquisition. He could speak scarcely any English, but was kindly helped to 
acquire it by the ladies of Mr Irving' s family. The younger was a soldier, 
brought to Protestantism as much by love for his brother as by love for the 
truth. Irving exerted himself in behalf of both, and treated them with great 
and constant kindness. The abbe married a lady whose confessor he had 
been, and whom he had insensibly led into his own views, and, as a conse- 
quence, into persecution— but died early, leaving his widow to the protection 
of his devoted brother. 



120 COMMENCEMENT OF JOURNAL-LETTERS. 

After his arrival in London, his letters take the form of a 
journal, commenced as follows : — 

" Let me now endeavour to express, for the information of 
my dear wife, and for her consolation under our present sore 
trial, and for the entertainment of her present separation from 
me, and the gratification of all her spousal affections, and, by 
the grace of Grod, for the building up of her faith in Christ, 
and her love towards her husband, whatever hath occurred to 
the experience of my soul this day, and whatever hath occupied 
my thoughts in this my study, and whatever hath engaged my 
activity out of doors ; and for her sake may the Lord grant me 
a faithful memory and a true utterance. 

" 26th. — This morning I arose a little after seven o'clock, 
in possession of my reason and of my health, and not without 
aspirations of soul towards the communion of Grod ; but poor 
and heartless when compared with those experiences of the 
Psalmist, whose prayers prevented the dawning of the morn- 
ing, and his meditations the night-watches ; and my soul 
being afflicted with the downwardness, and wandering of 
spirit, and coldness of heart, towards the Grod of my salva- 
tion, in the morning, which is as it were a new resurrection, 
it was borne in upon my mind that it arose in a great measure 
from my not realizing with abiding constancy the Mediator 
between me and Grod, but breaking through, as it were, to 
commune with Him in mine own strength — whereby the 
lightning did scathe my soul, or rather my soul abode in its 
barrenness, unwatered from the living fountain, in its slavery 
unredeemed by the Captain of my salvation, who will be ac- 
knowledged before He will bless us, or rather who must be 
honoured in order that we may stand well in the sight of the 
Eather. "When the family were assembled to prayers in the 
little library (our family consists at present of Mrs Hall, her 
niece, a sweet young woman out of Somersetshire, and a 
servant maid, and Hall, who is not able to come down-stairs 
till after noon), Miss Dalzell* and her sister came in to con- 
sult me concerning the unsuitable behaviour of one of the 
Sabbath-school teachers, who was becoming a scandal unto 
the rest of the teachers, and had been a sore trouble to her, 
and whom Satan was moving to trouble the general peace of 
the Society. Under which affliction, having given her what 
present comfort the Lord enabled me, I refrained from any 
positive deliverance, or even hinting any idea, till the mat- 
ter should come before our committee — against which may 

* A lady who had hcen the means of establishing a system of local Sab- 
hath schools. 



HISTORICAL READING. 121 

the Lord grant me and all the teachers the spirit of wise 
counsel to meet and defeat this device of the Evil One. How 
the tares grow up among the wheat in every society, and, 
alas ! in every heart ! The Lord root them out of my soul, 
though the pain be sore as the plucking out a right eye or a 
right hand. After worship and breakfast I composed myself 
to read out of a book of old pamphlets concerning the Revo- 
lution, one which contains a minute journal of the expedi- 
tion of the Prince of Orange, for the Protestant cause, into 
England, from the day of his setting out to the day of his 
coronation ; which, written as it is in a spiritual and biblical 
style, brought more clear convictions to my mind that this 
passage of history is as wonderful a manifestation of Grod's 
arm as any event in the history of the Jews ; being the judg- 
ment of the Stewarts, the reward of the Orange house, the 
liberation of the sealed nation from its idolatrous oppressors, 
and the beginning of the humiliation of Prance, which went 
on for a century and was consummated in the Revolution, of 
which the remote cause was in the expensive wars of Louis 
XIV., exhausting the finances, and causing Louis XVI. to 
be a ' raiser of taxes,' according to Daniel's prophecy. Oh, 
that some one would follow the history of the Christian 
Church and embody it in chronicles in the spirit of the books 
of Samuel ! There is no presumption, surely, in giving a 
spiritual account of that which we know from the prophecies 
to be under spiritual administration. Afterwards I addressed 
myself to Bishop Overall's Convocation book, concerning the 
government of the Catholic Church and the kingdoms of the 
whole world, which digests, under short chapters, the history 
of Grod's revelation, and appends a canon to each. In the 
first twenty-two of which chapters and canons I was aston- 
ished to find the full declaration of what had been dawning 
upon my mind, viz. that the maxim which since Locke's 
time has been the basis of all government, ' that all power is 
derived from the people, and held of the people for the 
people's good,' is in truth the basis of all revolution and 
radicalism, and the dissolution of all government ; and that 
governors and judges, of whatever name, hold their place and 
authority of Grod for ends discovered in His Word, even as 
people yield obedience to laws and magistrates by the same 
highest authority. Also it pleased me to find how late sprung 
is the notion among our levelling dissenters, that the magis- 
trate hath no power in the Church, and how universal was 
the notion among the reformers and divines that the magis- 
trate is bound to put down idolatry and will- worship, and 



122 



IDOLATRY OF THE MEMORY. 



provide for the right religious instruction of the peoph 
That subject of toleration needs to be reconsidered; th 
liberals have that question wholly their own way, and there- 
fore I know that there must be error in it ; for where Satan 
is, there is confusion and every evil work. 

" I went out into the garden to walk before dinner, and 
with difficulty refrained my tears to think how oft and with 
what sweet delight I had borne my dear, dear boy along that 
walk, with my dear wife at my side ; but had faith given me to 
see his immortality in another world, and rest satisfied with 
my Maker's will. Sir Peter Lawrie called after dinner, and 
besought me, as indeed have many, to go and live with him ; 
but nothing shall tempt me from this sweet solitude of re- 
tirement, and activity of consolation, and ministry to the af- 
flicted When he was gone I went forth upon my out- 
door ministry, and as I walked to Mr Whyte's, along the 
terraces overlooking those fields where we used to walk, three 
in one, I was sore, sore distressed, and found the temptation 
to 'idolatry of the memory;' which the Lord delivered me 
from — at the same time giving the clue to the subject which 
has been taking form in my mind lately, to be treated as 
arising out of my trial ; and the form in which it presented 
itself is ' the idolatry of the affections,' which will embrace the 
whole evil, the whole remedy, and the sound condition of all 
relations. I proceeded to Mrs S., and, being somewhat out of 
spirits, was tempted of Satan to return, but having been of 
late much exercised upon the necessity of implicit obedience to 
the will of God, I hastened to proceed, and was richly rewarded 
in an interview with the mother and daughter, wherein my 
mouth was opened, as was their heart, and I trust seed was 
sown which will bear fruit. Then I returned home through 
the churchyard, full of softness of heart Upon my re- 
turn home I addressed myself to a discourse upon the text, 
' To me to live is Christ, and to die gain,' until the hour of 
evening prayer, when I gathered my little flock, and having 
commended all oiir spirits and all our beloved ones to the 
Father of Mercies, we parted, — they to their couches, where I 
trust they now sleep in peace; I to this sweet office of af- 
fection, which I now close with the deep closing knell of St 
Paul's sounding twelve in my ear. My beloved Isabella, you 
are sleeping upon your pillow ; the God of Jacob make it rich 
and divine as the pillow of Padanaram ! My little darling, 
thou art resting on thy mother's bosom ; the Lord make thee 
unto us what Isaac was to Abraham and Sarah ! Farewell, 
my beloved ! 



DEVOTION AND STUDY. 123 

" 21 tli October. — I am so worn out with work that I fear it 
is a vain undertaking to which I now address myself, of giving 
some account of the day's transactions to my dear wife. I be- 
gan the day with a sweet exercise of private devotion, wherein 
the Lord gave me ore than usual composure of soul; and 
having descended, we read together the fourth chapter of Job, 
and prayed earnestly that the Lord would enable us to fulfil 
His will ; at and after breakfast I read the seventy-third Psalm 
in Hebrew, and in the Greek New Testament the first chapter 
of Hebrews. After which I went to my solitary walk in the 
garden, and was exercised with many thoughts which came 
clothed in a cloud, but passed encircled with a rainbow. As 
I walked I employed myself in committing to memory some 
Hebrew roots. Having returned to my study, I addressed 
myself to read two or three additional chapters and canons in 
the Convocation book, and am a good deal shaken concerning 
the right of subjects to take arms against their sovereign. 
Thereafter I laboured at my discourse, in the composition of 
which I find a new style creeping upon me, whether for the 
better or for the worse I know not ; but this I know, that I seek 
more and more earnestly to be a tongue unto the Holy Spirit. 
My dinner being ended I returned to my readings, and sought 
to entertain my mind with a volume of my book of ancient 
voyages, which delights me with its simplicity. I had a call 

from Mr M , and Dr M with him. I was enabled to 

be very faithful, and I trust with some good effect Then 

I went to church to meet my young communicants, and the 
spiritual part of my people. But of all that passed, sweet and 
profitable, I am unable to write, with difficulty forming my 
thoughts into these feeble words. The Lord send refreshing 
sleep to my dear wife and little babe, and to His servant, who 
has the satisfaction of having wearied himself in His service. 
Farewell ! 

" 2§th October, Thursday. — This day, my best beloved, has 
been to me a day of activity and not of study, feeling it ne- 
cessary to lie by and refresh my head, whose faintness or 
feebleness hindered my spirit from expressing itself last night 
to its beloved mate. My visions of the night were of our 
dearly beloved boy, whose death I thought all a mistake or 
falsehood, and that he was among our hands still; but this 
illusion was accompanied with such, prayers and refreshings of 
soul, and all so hallowed, that I awoke out of it nowise disap- 
pointed with the sad reality ; and having arisen, I addressed 
myself to the cleansing of body and soul, and especially be- 
sought the Lord for simple and implicit obedience to His holy 



124 BREAKFAST PARTY. 

will, of which prayer, methinks, I have this day experienced 
the sweet and gracious answer. At family prayers and break- 
fast there assembled Mr Hamilton, our brother ; Mr Darling, 
one of the flock, who came to consult concerning the schools, 
for which they wish a collection, to which I am the more dis- 
posed that all other means have failed ; Mr Thompson, the 
preacher who visited us at Kirkcaldy, and came to present me 
with his little religious novel of The Martyr, a tale of the first 

century ; opus perdifflcile ; Mr M , curate of our parish of 

Clerkenwell, who came to commune with me concerning Sot- 
tomayor and the affairs of the parish, a man of zeal, but I fear 
not of much wisdom, yet devoted to the Lord ; Mr Johnstone, 
a young lawyer from Alnwick, four years an inmate of Pears' 
house,* a Christian likewise, but of the Radical or Dissenting- 
for-dissenting-sake school ; — I trust men of God : and a sweet 
thought it is to me that the Lord should encompass my table 
with His servants. For whose entertainment Mrs Hall (best 
and frugallest of housekeepers) had prepared a ham and other 
eatables, with which, and tea, not over strong, we were well 
pleased and thankful to satisfy our hunger. After breakfast 
we set out (which had been projected between Mr Hamilton 
and me) to see the walls of the new church, arising out of the 
earth in massive strength to more than the height of a man, 
where we found Mr Dinwiddie, with his daughters, of whom 
he would not allow one to go to Edinburgh on a visit of months 
without having seen it, to carry the reports of our work. This 
careful elder having pointed to Mr Hamilton the remissness of 
the overseer to be on his post betimes, we proceeded to the 
city ; I to visit the flock, they to their honest callings. In Mr 

H -'s hospitium of business, and general rendezvous of 

Caledonian friends, I wrote for Elizabeth Dinwiddie a letter of 
pastoral commendation to Mrs Gordon, through whom, wife of 
my heart and sharer of my joys, you will find her out if you 
should be resident in the city. In the room of shawls, muslin, 
and muslin-boxes, which your father found cool as the refresh- 
ing zephyrs, there were four Greeks, negotiating with Alex- 
ander, by the universal language of the exchange, the ten 
digits, for one other common sign had they not. They were 
small, strong, well-built fellows, turbaned, with black hair 
curling from beneath high skull-caps : and yet, I think, though 
they had fire in their look, one or two English seamen carry 
as much battle in their resolute faces as did these four outlandish 
mariners. But I hastened to another conflict, — the conflict of 
sorrow and sickness, in the house of our dear brother David, 
* Tke school-house at Abbotshall, Kirkcaldy, referred to in Chapter IV. 



BOOK-STALLS. 125 

whose hurt in his head threatens him grievously In my 

first visit I liked the complexion of his sickness ill; he was 
then so moved and over-acted by my visit, that we judged it 
best that I should not have an interview with him. He had 

spoken much and delightfully to his excellent wife I 

gathered the family together, and having spoken to them, we 
had a season of prayer. From whence I proceeded to Mr 

L — , in order to exhort him and his wife concerning their 

children, and especially concerning the Sacrament of Baptism, 
which they sought for the youngest, two months old. They 
are two saints, as I judge, and our communing was sweet. 
Thence I passed to Whitecross Street, in order to visit an old 

couple, Alexander M and his wife (he whom we got into 

the pension society). They are sadly tried with two sons, one 
of whom has fits of madness ; the other, according to his 
father's account, 'has caught the fever of the day, 5 become 
infidel, which he tells me is amazingly spread amongst the 
tradesmen. Having exhorted them to zeal and steadfastness, 
I passed on to Sottomayor's, whom I found correcting a Spanish 
translation of Doddridge's 'Rise and Progress;' and after 
much sweet discourse — for, dear Isabella, he proves well — his 
wife came up, and he interpreted between us. She is per- 
plexed most to give up the honour of the Yirgin — 1 should 
say the idolatry of the Virgin. I prayed with them, as in 
every other place, and hastened home, expecting letters 
from my Isabella, which I found not, at Pentonville. Thence 
I passed, peeping at the book-stalls, and sometimes going a 
step out of my way, but purchasing nothing, though sore 
tempted with St Bernard's works, until I reached Bedford 
Square, where I found the two proof-sheets with the letter, 
which was like water to my soul. But one o'clock has struck. 
William Hamilton came at six, when we went to Sir Peter's. 
.... After which, returning home with sweet discourse, I as- 
sembled my family, and when I prayed there wept one, I know 
not which (may they be tears of penitence and contrition !) ; 
and having supped upon my cup of milk and slice of toast, I 
have wrought at this sweet occupation till this early hour. 
And now, with a husband's and a father's blessing upon my 
sleeping treasures, — a master's blessing on my faithful servant, 
and a son and brother's upon all your house, — I go to commit 
myself to the arms of Him who slumbers not nor sleeps. 
Farewell. 

" Walthamstow, 29th, Friday. — This morning, my dear Isa- 
bella, I excused myself a little longer rest, by the lateness of 
my home-returning last night and my weariness, which you 



126 CHRISTIAN COUNSEL. 

will observe is not right, for unless there be some fixed hour 
there can be no regularity, of which the great use is to form 
a restraint upon our wilfulness. Moreover, I always find 
that the work of the Lord proceeds with me during the day 
according to my readiness to serve Him in the morning. Oh, 
when shall my eyes prevent the morning, that I might medi- 
tate in His law or lift up my soul unto His throne ! After 
our morning prayers, our friend Mr W. came in, much grieved 
in spirit by the vexations of the world, and the mistreatments 
of one whom he thought his friend. But I told him that his 
faith was unremoved and unremovable, and his wife and chil- 
dren spared to him, and daily bread furnished out to them ; 
therefore, he ought not so sadly to grieve himself. .... I 
addressed myself to my main occupation of preparing food 
for my people, beginning a lecture upon the first three verses 
of the eighth chapter of Luke, which I sought to introduce 
by giving a sketch, chiefly taken from the preceding chapter, 
of what kind His ministry was likely to be in these cities. 
In which I think I had no small liberty granted to my mind 
and to my pen, for which I had earnestly besought the Lord 
in the morning. And having well exhausted myself by about 
one o'clock, and brought the discourse to a resting-place, I 
judged I could not do better than gather my implements and 
walk over to "Walthamstow, that I might have the more time 
with our afflicted friends. ... I pursued my road alone, 
reflecting much upon the emptiness of all our expectations, 
and the transitoriness of all our enjoyments, seeing that the 
last time I travelled that way, I had pleased myself with 
having found a road through the park, by which you and I 
and dear Edward might oft walk out of a summer eve to see 
our friends ; and now little Edward and our esteemed friend 
are in the dust. Be it so. I praise the Lord for His good- 
ness, and so do you, my dearest wife. I found our dear 

friends as I could have wished Having assembled 

the family, and encouraged them to stand fast in the Lord, 
and see His wonders, we joined in worship, and the ladies 
retired, leaving me in this room, dear, and sitting in the spot 

where our friend used so cheerfully to entertain us 

Oh, Isabella, my soul is sometimes stirred up, and sometimes 
languishes with much faintness, yet with a very faint as well 
as a very fervent cry, I will entreat Him, that I may be 
wholly His, in my strength and in my weakness. I pray for 
you all continually. I bless you and our dear babe night 
and morning, not forgetting Mary, whom I entreat to ad- 
vance, and not to go back Now, my dearest, how 









127 

glad should we be that the fresh, free air of our house was 
eminently serviceable to Hall, with whom it might have gone 
very hard in his confined place. The servant is now about 
to leave us ; and then we are Hall, his wife, his wife's cousin, 

three most worthy people So be wholly at rest, my 

dearest, concerning my comfort, and regulate your time 
wholly by consideration for your health and dear Margaret's. 
The solitude does me good. It teaches me my blessedness in 
such a wife, which I have much forgotten, but now, thank 

Grod, forget not But time hastens, and my eyes grow 

heavy and my conceptions dull. The Lord, who preserved 
the Virgin and the Blessed Babe On their journey to Egypt, 
preserve my wife and babe, and bring them in safety to their 
home, and their home in my heart. This night may His 
arms be around you, and soft and gentle sleep seal your eye- 
lids, and when you awake, may you be with Him. Amen. 

" 29th, Saturday.— 

" 'Long have I view'd, long have I thought, 
And trembling held the bitter draught ; 
But now resolved and firm I'll be, 
Since 'tis prepared and mix'd by Thee. 

" ' I'll trust my great Physician's skill, 
What He prescribes can ne'er be ill ; 
No longer will I groan or pine, 
Thy pleasure 'tis — it shall be mine. 

" ' Thy medicine oft produces smart, 

Thou wound' st me in the tenderest part ; 
All that I prized below is gone ; 
Yet, Father, still Thy will be done. 

" ' Since 'tis Thy sentence I shall part 
"With what is nearest to my heart ; 
My little all I here resign, 
And lo ! my heart itself is Thine. 

" « Take all, Great God. I will not grieve, 
But wish I still had more to give. 
I hear Thy voice, Thou bidst me quit 
This favour' d gourd : and I submit.' 

" These lines, my dearest, were brought in for the consola- 
tion of Mrs I by the two pious sisters in whom our de- 
parted friend used to rejoice so much. I thought them so 
pious and obedient in their spirit that I immediately copied 
them out for the consolation of Edward's mother. Dear Isa- 
bella, if the fruit of our marriage had been no more than to 
give birth and being to so sweet a spirit, I would bless the 
Lord that He had ever given you to my arms. 



128 THE SECRET OF FELLOWSHIP. 

" I am in Dr M 's back dining-room, so far on my way 

home. . . . So, to place myself in the sweetest company 
which the world possesses for me, I have taken my pen in 
hand. I know not how it is, my dear, that I find not the 

communion I looked for in the company of Mrs I . Her 

mind is fidgety or flighty ; I know not which. ... So it is 
with me also, and with all others who nourish their own will 
in its hidden places. An evidence, my dear, of those who 
nourish their own will, is the carelessness which they have 
in expressing their thought, and manifesting it to others. 
Being manifest to themselves, they stop short and heed not 
the further revealing it. How this has been my character, 

and that of Mrs I ! Hence our inability to enter into 

communion; for communion implies one common, not two 
several minds. The true access and assurance of good so- 
ciety* is the communion of the Holy Spirit, which if you 
cultivate, my beloved wife, it will be well for you in all re- 
lations, and so also for me. As Christ is the author of all 
true regulation of the mind or understanding, or reason, so 
the Holy Ghost is the author of all true love and affection 
and communion, out of which all forms of society spring. 

But for Miss B , I think her, so far as I can judge, a 

faithful and true disciple of the Lord ; rather, perhaps, over- 
theological, and not enough practised iu the inward obedience 
of the mind. Oh, my dearest, this obedience is the perfec- 
tion of the Christian, — obedience in the thought, obedience 
in the feeling, obedience in the action. Think much of this, 
for it is true, true ! As I came over these fields and marshes, 
and by that running water, there revived in me some effemi- 
nate feelings, which convince me that there is an intimate 
connection between the softer and more luxurious forms of 
nature, and the softer passions of the mind ; for I am never 
visited with any such fleshly thoughts when moving through 
the mountains and wilds of my native country ; and to my 
judgment this tendency of visible beauty, variety, and rich- 
ness to cultivate the sensual part of our nature, which ob- 
scures the intellectual and moral, in the true account that, 
being left to themselves without religion, the people of the 
plains sink into lethargy and luxury of soul far sooner than 
the people of the mountains. The eye hath more to do with 
the flesh than any other sense, although they be all its vile 
ministers. Oh, when shall I be delivered from these base 

* Irving uses this word in the Scotch sense — good company, fellowship. 
The social faculty is evidently what he means. 






WISDOM AND POWER. 129 

bonds ? When shall I desire to be delivered, and loathe them 
with my soul ? 

" Dr M interrupted me, and I now write by my fireside, 

whither the Lord has conducted me again in safety, prepar- 
ing all things for my reception. I have finished both my dis- 
courses, and have had a season of discourse and prayer with 
the three women whose tears are the tokens of their emo- 
tion. Oh, that they may be saved ! . . Dr M pleases 

me not a little. He is an exact but formal man, yet he 
seems to possess more insight into theology than I had 
thought. One discourse was profitable, and full of argu- 
ment. The University* makes progress, and the good-na- 
tured Doctor thinks he has mellowed them into the adoption 
of some measure defensive of religion. He pleases himself 
with the thought that Dr Cox can do everything or anything 
with Brougham. ' The man who thinks he hath Brougham 
captive hath caught a Tartar. He has more of the whirlpool 
quality in him than any man I have met with ; and he careth 
not for wisdom, but for power only.' These were some of 
my exclamations in the midst of the Doctor's simplicity. 
Observe, Isabella, that the philosopher, or lover of wisdom, 
is a grade higher than the lovers of power, or the monarchs 
who have reached it. Hence, when a truly great man chances 
to be a king, he desires wisdom moreover, as Alfred did, and 
others after, as Justinian and Napoleon ; but no philosopher 
ever cared to be a king. Pythagoras, or Plato, or Socrates, 
for instance. There are no philosophers now-a-days, because 
they are all ambitious of power or eminence. Even Basil 
Montagu is desirous of power, — that is, his own will ; and 
Coleridge is desirous of power, — that is, the good-will of 
others, or the idolatry of himself. The Christian is both 
priest and king, a minister of wisdom and a possessor of 
power. The rest I leave to your own reflections. I had 

much earnest discourse with Mr T , on our way home, 

concerning his vocation. The Lord be his defence. And 
now, Edward Irving, another day hath passed over thy head, 
and hast thou occupied the time well ? Art thou worthy of 
to-morrow ? I have passed the day amiss, and am not worthy 
of to-morrow. I have been in communion with myself. I 
have loved myself better than another. I know not whether 
I have been altogether temperate ; and yet will I praise the 
Lord, for I have prayed oft, and I have written my discourses 

* London University, which was then being established, and which, in 
consequence of the exclusion of religion, Irving strenuously opposed. 

9 



130 PRAYERS FOR THE ABSENT. 

in a spiritual frame of mind. But, oh ! my meditations, why 
centre ye at home so much ? Now may the Lord prepare 
me for to-morrow's holy dawn, and all my people, and give 
me strength to beget one unto Christ, whom I may call my 
son I How doth my sweet daughter, my dear child ? Thou 
seed of an immortal! the Lord make light thy swaddling 
band, and salvation thy swathing round about thee ! And thou, 
my most excellent wife ! when shall these eyes behold thee, 
and these lips call thee blessed, and these arms embrace 
thee ? In the Lord's good time. "When Thou judgest it to 
be best, oh my Grod, direct them to a good time, and conduct 
them by a healthy way. Thou doest all things well. And 
this night encircle them with Thy arm where they lie, and 
bless the house where they dwell for their sake. Make my 
wife like the ancient women, and my child like the seed of 
the Fathers of Thy Church. And, oh, that Thy servant 
might be held in remembrance by the generation of the 
godly. Bless also Thine handmaiden, our faithful servant. 
Even so, my family, let the blessing of Grod encompass us all. 
" Sunday, 30th. — This has been to me a day to be held in 
remembrance, my dearest wife, for the strength with which 
the Lord hath endowed me to manifest His truth. I pray it 
may be a day to be remembered for the strength with which 
He hath endowed many of my people to conceive truth and 
bring forth its fruitfulness. In the morning I arose before 
eight, and having sought to purify myself by prayer for the 
sanctification of the Sabbath, I came down to the duties of 
my family — but before passing out of my bed-chamber, let 
me take warning, and admonish my dear Isabella, how neces- 
sary it is for the first opening of our eyelids upon the sweet 
light of the morning to open the eye of our soul upon its 
blessed light, which is Christ, otherwise the tempter will 
carry us away to look upon some vanity or folly in the 
kingdom of this world, and so divert our souls as that, when 
they come to lift themselves up to Grod, they shall find no 
concentration of spirit upon Grod, no sweet flow of holy de- 
sires, no strong feeling of want to extort supplication or 
groanings of soul ; so that we shall have complainings of ab- 
sence instead of consolations of His holy presence ; barren- 
ness and leanness for faithfulness and beauty. So, alas, I 
found it in the morning, but the Lord heard the voice of my 
crying, and sent me this instruction, which may He enable 
me and my dear wife to profit from in the time to come. 
After our family worship, in which I read the first chapter of 
the Hebrews, as preparatory to reading it in the church, Mr 



A Sunday's services. 131 

Dinwiddie, our worthy and venerable elder, came in as usual, 
and we joined in prayer for the blessing of the Lord upon the 
ministry of the Word this day throughout all the churches, 
and especially in the church and congregation given into our 
hand ; whereupon he departed, having some preparations to 
make before the service, and I went alone, meditating upon 
the first of Hebrews, which has occupied my thoughts so 
much all the week. We began by singing the first six verses 
of the forty-fifth Psalm, whose reference to Messiah I shortly 
instructed the people to bear in mind. In prayer I found 
much liberty, especially in confession of sin and humiliation 
of soul, for the people seemed bowed down, very still and 
silent, and full of solemnity — then, having read the first of 
Hebrews, I told them that it was the epistle for instructing 
them in the person and offices of Christ as our mediator, 
both priest and king; but that it wholly bore upon the 
present being of the man Christ Jesus, from the time that he 
was begotten from the dead, not upon his former being, from 
eternity before He became flesh, which was best to be under- 
stood from the Grospel by John ; but for the new character 
which He had acquired by virtue of His incarnation and 
resurrection, and the relations in which He stood to the 
Church and to the world, this epistle is the great fountain of 
knowledge, though, at the same time, it throws much light 
upon His eternal Sonship and Divinity, by the way of allusion 
and acknowledgment in passing; that the purpose of the 
epistle was to satisfy the believing Hebrews, who were 
terribly assailed and tempted by their unbelieving brethren, 
and confirm them in the superiority of Christ to Moses as a 
law-giver, to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood as a priest, 
and to angels, through whose ministry they believed that the 
law was given, as the Apostle himself teacheth in his Epistle 
to the Gralatians. And therefore he opens with great dignity 
the solemn discourse by connecting Christ with all the pro- 
phets, and exalts Him above all rank and comparison by 
declaring His inheritance, His workmanship, His prerogative 
of representing Grod, of upholding the universe, of purging 
our sins by Himself, and sitting at the right hand of the 
majesty on high. Then, addressing himself to his work, he 
demonstrates His superiority to angels, in order, not to the 
adjustment of His true dignity — which he had already made 
peerless — but to the exaltation of the dispensation which He 
brought, above the former which was given by angels. This 
demonstration he makes by reference to psalms which, by 
the belief of all the Jewish Church, from the earliest times, 



132 EXPOSITION. 

were understood of Messiah ; which, quotations, however, far 
surpass, infinitely surpass, the purpose for which they are 
quoted, placing Him, each one, on a level with God to us, at 
least, to whom that doctrine hath been otherwise revealed. 
But those Psalms looking forward to Messiah's glory can 
consequently have only an application posterior to the time 
that He was Messiah, and that He was Messiah in humility. 
Therefore, the ' this day ' is the day either of His birth or of 
His ascension, the ' first-begotten ' is from the dead, and the 
' kingdom ' is the kingdom purchased by His obedience unto 
the death ; and hence the reason given for His exaltation is, 
because He hath loved righteousness and hated iniquity. 
These trains of reasoning and quotation being concluded, I 
challenged them to remark the sublimity of that from the 
102nd Psalm, and thence took occasion to rebuke them very 
sharply for going after idolatries of profane poets, and 
fictitious novelists, and meagre sentimentalists, who are 
Satan's prophets, and wear his livery of malice, and falsehood, 
and mocking merriment, while they forsook the prophets of 
the Lord, and their sublime, pathetic, true, wise, and ever- 
lasting forms of discourse. Then having begun with a prayer 
that the Lord would make the reading of this Epistle effec- 
tual to the confirming their faith in Christ's character, 
offices, and work, and possessing them of the efficacy thereof, 
I concluded with a prayer that the Lord would enlarge our 
souls by that powerful word which had now been preached 
to us of His great grace. 

" Then we sung the last verses of the 102nd Psalm, and 
prayed in the words of the Lord. The sermon* was from 
Phil. i. 21 ; to which I introduced their attention by explain- 
ing my object to show them the way to possess and be as- 
sured of that victory over death, of which, last Lord's day, I 
showed them the great achievement (1 Cor. xv. 55 — 57) ; then 
having, in a few sentences, embodied Paul's sublime dilemma 
between living and dying, I joined earnest battle with the 
subject, and set to work to explain the life that was Christ, 
which I drew out of Gal. ii. 20, to consist in a total loss of 
personality and self, and surrender of all our being unto 
Him who had purchased us with His blood, leaving us no 
longer ' our own ' — which condition of being, though it seem 

* This wonderful resume of the day's services will give a hetter idea than 
any description of the lengthened and engrossing character of these dis- 
courses, into which the preacher went with his whole soul and heart ; and of 
the extraordinary fascination which could hold his audience interested through 
exercises so long, close, and solemn. 



EVENING SERVICE. 133 

ideal and unattainable, is nothing else than the obedience of 
the first great commandment, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
Grod,' &c. ; since to be so identified and at one with Christ, 
was only to be wholly in love with, and obedient to, the 
Father. Now this condition of life must insure to all who 
have reached to it, the same grace at death which Christ, the 
man Christ, the Messiah, by His resurrection, attained to — 
or, if not wholly at death, partially then, and wholly at the 
resurrection. For I argued from the 2nd of the Hebrews, 
that whatever Christ attained to, His people attained to, and 
also from all the promises in the 2nd and 3rd of the Revela- 
tion to those who overcome. This gave me great purchase 
upon the subject, allowing me the whole scope of the con- 
trast between Christ's humiliation and exaltation; which 
having wrought according to my gift, I then proceeded to 
show the vanity of any lower estimate of the life which is 
' Christ ' by touching many popular errors, such as place it 
in a sound faith merely, or in a correct morality, or in a re- 
ligious conformity, against which having opposed the uni- 
versality and unreservedness of obedience, the thoroughness 
of redemption, and the perfectness of regeneration, I told 
them, and warned them, of sad misgivings on a death-bed, of 
desperate fears and hoodwinkings of the conscience, showing 
them that the believer could not die hard, like the unbe- 
liever, or brutified, like the carnalist ; and I prayed them, 
when these doubtings came upon them, to remember that 
this day they had been warned by a minister of the Gospel. 
I had a good deal of matter still remaining, but Mr Lee's 
child being to be baptized, and the quarterly collection to 
be gathered, I stopped there — the place being convenient. 

" We sang the three first verses of the 23rd Psalm, and 
concluded. Mr Hamilton walked home with me, and we 
enjoyed much spiritual discourse. I refused to dine with 
him, and also with Mr Dinwiddie, and had my chop, which, 
being eaten with thankfulness, was sweet. Benjamin shared 
with me, and was sadly afflicted to hear of little Edward's 
death. I am sure it does not trouble you to speak of our 
departed joy, else I would desist. I rested the interval, 
meditating upon the 22nd chapter of Grenesis ; and having 
gone forth, not without prayer and thanksgiving, to my 
second ministry, I have reason to give Grod thanks for his 
gracious support. From the chapter I took occasion first 
to observe, in general, that it was for the instruction of 
families, as the fount of nations, in Grod's holiness ; .... I 
observed how it was, that idolatry in the people and true 



134 HIS RESPONSIBILITY AS HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

piety in the king, were found together ; even as, among the 
Soman Catholics, you have among the priests singular saints, 
while the body of the people are rank and gross idolaters 

The lecture was upon Luke xiii. 1 ; when I sought, 

first, to give the character of our Lord's ministry in their 
towns and villages, deriving it from the specimen of Nain, 
and other fragments from the preceding pages, its munifi- 
cence of well-doing, its public discourses, sifting and sounding 
the hearers, its private ministrations in houses and families, 
improving each to the justification and recommendation of a 
higher kind of ministry than what presently prevails among 
us. . . . Such, dear, hath been my employment this day, of 
which I give you this account before I sleep, that you may 

be edified The Lord be gracious unto you, and to our 

little babe, and to our faithful servant, for He regards me 
accountable for all my household. Therefore I exhort you 
all to holiness and love. The Lord unite us all in peace and 
blessedness. 

" Monday, 31st October. — I now sit down, my dear Isabella, 
to give you the humble history of another day, which, from 
yesterday's exhaustion, hath been a day of weakness. What 
a restraint and hindrance this flesh and blood is upon the 
inflamed spirit, and to what degradation that spirit is reduced 
which doth not beat its weary breast against the narrow 
cage which confineth it. But to fret and consume away with 
struggles against the continent flesh, is rather the part of 
discontented and proud spirits, than of those who are en- 
lightened in the faith of Christ, to whom the encumbrance 
which weighs them down is a constant memorial of the 
resurrection, and by the faith of the resurrection, soothed 
down into patience and contentment. Besides, the bodily 
life is to them the period of destinies so infinite, and the 
means of charities so enlarged, that it is often a matter of 
doubt and question with them, as with St Paul, whether it is 
better to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, or 
to remain in the flesh, which is more profitable to the Church. 
And I do trust that my abode this day in an overstrained 
tabernacle hath not been unprofitable to that Church which 
is the pillar and ground of the truth. It was a day devoted 
to private conversations with those who propose, for the first 
time, to "join themselves to the church, at our approaching 
communion. "When I came down to breakfast, my table was 
spread with the welcome news of Anne P 's merciful de- 
livery, which Mr M had come to tell me of, but not find- 
ing me, had written out. Sottomayor was waiting for me 



SCOTTISH ADVENTURERS. 135 

and joined with us in our morning worship. He is in good 
cheer, but in want of another hour's teaching, in order to 
keep his head above water, which, I trust, will be obtained 
for him by that merciful Providence which has watched over 
his wife and him. By-the-by, I had taken upon me the task 
of inquiring, while in the north, what opening Edinburgh 
presented for his brother, the soldier, which my various un- 
foreseen duties hindered me from fulfilling. "Would you give 
that in trust to some one and let me know ? I think Sotto- 
mayor, the priest, is truly confirmed in the faith, and I have 
good reason to think that the soldier is finding relief for the 
multitude of his doubts. There came also to breakfast with 

me a Mr M and a Mr C (I think), of neither of 

whom I know anything, except that the former had met me 
in Glasgow. He has come to this town on adventure, like 
so many of our countrymen, and came to me in his straits to 
help him to a situation, leading with him, or being led by, 
the other lad. I thought it hard enough to be by so slight a 
thread bound to so secular a work ; but looking to the lad, 
and seeing in him an air of seriousness and good sense, and 
thinking of his helplessness, I felt it my duty to encourage 
him ; and though I could not depart from my rule of not 
meddling with secular affairs, and stated so to him plainly, I 
pencilled him a word to Alex. Hamilton, to give him counsel. 
At the same time I declared to him what I believe to be the 
truth, that this coming upon venture from a place we are oc- 
cupied well, and sustained in daily food from our occupation, 
merely that we may rise in the world, is not a righteous 
thing before God, however approved by our ambitious country- 
men ; and though it may be successful in bringing them to 
what they seek, a fortune and an establishment in the world, 
it is generally unsuccessful in increasing them in the riches 
of the kingdom, in which they become impoverished every 
day, until they are the hardest, most secular, worldly, and 
self-seeking creatures which this metropolis contains. Let 
them come, if they have any kindred or friends to whose help 
they may come, or if they be in want, for then they come on 
an errand which the Lord may countenance ; but let them 
come merely for desire of gain, or of getting on, and they 
come at Mammon's instigation, with whom our God doth 

not co-operate at all I began the duties of the day at 

ten o'clock, with Mrs C , the woman whom Lady Mack- 
intosh recommended to you for a matron. She has been a 
mother of tears, having lost, since she came to England, 
about twenty-five years ago, husband, and child, and mother, 



136 THE PRIEST AND HIS CATECHUMENS. 

and brothers three, and all her kindred but one brother, who 
still Jives in Buchan. The loss of her little daughter, at six 
years of age, by an accident upon the streets, brought her to 
the yery edge of derangement, in the excess of her grief, so 
that, like Job, she was glad when the sun went down, and 
shut out the cheerful light from her eyes. But the Lord 
restrained this natural sorrow, that it should not work utter 
death, as its nature is to do, in consideration, I doubt not, of 

her faith, and for the further sanctification of her soul 

She left Scotland without her mother's consent (why, I did 
not venture to ask), and in six months her mother was no 
more to give or withhold her consent, which made her miseries 
in England have something in them, to her mind, of a mother's 
curse ; and this, she told me, was bitterness embittered. Tell 
this to all your sisters, that they may honour their parents, 
and never gainsay their mother. Tell it also to Mary, and 
let Mary tell it to her sisters ; but withhold the woman's 
name; that, like many other things I write, is to yourself 

alone This good woman, whose face is all written over 

with sorrow and sadness, like Mrs M 's, had been a mem- 
ber of Dr Nicol's chiirch till his death, whose ministry had 
been to her a great consolation. Tell this to James Mcol 
when you see him ; and say that, now that he is inheriting 
his father's prayers, he must walk in his father's footsteps, 
and comfort the afflicted flock of Christ, which is our anointed 
calling, as it was that of our great Master. Obey this at 
the commandment of your husband. This woman satisfied 
me well, both as to knowledge and spirit, and I admitted her 
freely thus far. She is now a sort of guardian-servant to a 
lady in Bloomsbury, who has partial and occasional aberra- 
tions of mind. The Lord bless her in such a tender case ! 

" My next spiritual visitants were the two Misses A , 

whom I am wont to meet at Mr Cassel's, of whom the 
younger came to my instructions, drawn by spiritual con- 
cern, the elder to accompany the younger, and thus both have 
been led to come forward — I fear the latter still rather as a 
companion than as a disciple. But, oh, the difference, as a 
lad who has just parted from me said, ' Grace gives to the 
youth a fuller majesty, without any petty pride,' so I found 
it here in the difference between the living spirit of the one's 
conversation and words, and the shaped formality and mea- 
sured cadence of the other. I propose looking here a little 
deeper ; but as I have several days devoted to further in- 
struction, I made no demur at present, though I counselled 
them fervently and prayed with them both. My next was a 



A COMPANION FOR HIS ISABELLA. 137 

Miss S , from Johnstone, near Paisley, who has come to 

London to be under her brother's medical care, — a fine Scotch 
head, with an art-pale countenance, and fine Grecian outline 
of face ; she is a regular member of the church in her native 
place, but out of her own will came to speak with me ; and, 
though feeble in strength, we were able to commune and 
pray together to our mutual comfort. My last, at one o'clock, 

was Mrs E , a widow lady of most devout and intelligent 

appearance, who has been in the habit, for many months, of 
attending my Wednesday ministrations, bringing a son or a 
daughter in her hand, with the latter of whom, a sweet girl 
of about seven, she came attended. And we joined in dis- 
course, and I found in her a most exercised and tender spirit, 
whose husband of her youth had been cut off from her in the 
East Indies, and left her three sons and a daughter; the 
former she had now come up to town to prepare for cadet- 
ships ; afterwards to return, with her daughter, to the coun- 
try again, to rear her in the fear of the Lord. And of her 
eldest son, whom she had watched over with such care for six 
years, having for that time lived with them in Beverley, for 
no other end but to educate them herself, in which occupa- 
tion she met with the healing of God to her own soul in the 
midst of scoffers and deriders (whereof the memory to men- 
tion drew the tears from her eyes) — her eldest son, who had 
shown no signs of grace under her most careful instruction, 
being now, like herself, for the sake of the Hindostanee 
language, placed among the alien as his mother was, has 
since shown such a new character, and written such letters, 
as she never expected to receive from him ; and then she 
communed with me of sweet domestic interests, in such a de- 
vout and simple way, with so many applications for instruc- 
tion, and such a tender interest in two half-caste daughters 
of her husband, whom she has cared for as her own, that I 
delight to think what a sweet companion she will make for 
you, my dearest, when you return. Thus passed a forenoon, 
not without its mark in memory's chart. 

" I walked down to Mrs M 's, in order to inquire 

after Anne But time forestalls my wishes, dear Isa- 
bella. Twelve has struck, and the sweetest, holiest scene of 
the day remains untold. I prayed for a son, and the Lord 

this night hath brought me my son, Henry S , a youth 

who called on me before my northern visit, and then showed 
tokens of grace which I had not time to consider ; but this 
night, though but an apprentice, he hath, being the last of 
my visitants, showed such wonderful seriousness of mind, 



138 WEARINESS. 

soberness of reason, purity of life, and richness of character, 
as far outpasses in promise any youth that I have been the 
means of bringing unto Christ. And when at nine we as- 
sembled to prayer, and Hall showed his pale, emaciated face, 
and head but sprouting again from the shaver's razor, along 
with the rest of my household, and I gave him my easy-chair 
in consideration of his weakness — oh, Isabella, I felt like a 
priest and a patriarch ! and the Lord enabled us to have one 
of the sweetest occasions of praising Him and serving Him 
which for a long time I have enjoyed; so that we parted 
bedewed with tears, from our prayers, in which we never 
forgot you and our separated family. After which, while I 
partook of my usual repast, I glanced at that very remark- 
able article ' Milton,' in the ' Edinburgh Review,' which came 
in from the library. I take it to be young Macaulay's. It 
is clever — oh, it is full of genius ! — but little grace. Theology 
of this day — politics of this day — neither sound. Oh, en- 
vious Time, why dunnest thou me ? Oh, envious Sleep, why 
callest thou me ? I write to my wife, to comfort and edify 
her, — and bless her, and my babe, and my servant, and all 
my kindred of her father's honourable and pious house. 
"Well, I come. Farewell, my dear wife. 

" November 1st, Tuesday. — The command of King Greorge 
could not have made me take a pen in my hand this night, 
dearest Isabella; and now that I have taken it in hand, I 
exceedingly question whether this weary head will drive it 
over another line. But, dear, your thanks with me ! I have 
had such a harvest of six precious souls, whose spiritual 
communications have carried me almost beyond my power of 
enduring delight. The Lord doth indeed honour me. But 
ah ! this will not do ; I must leave off. To-morrow, the Lord 
sparing me, I will set forth the particulars to my Isabella, 
whom, with my dear daughter, may the Lord this night pre- 
serve. 

" 2nd, Wednesday. — It was well-nigh nine o'clock before I 
was recruited this morning with strength enough to go forth 
to my labours ; for these mental and spiritual labours, being 
in excess, do as truly require an extra quantity of rest as do 
bodily and social labours. But I have risen, thank Grod, 
well recruited, and have proceeded thus far on the day (five 
o'clock) very prosperously. The first of my communicants 

yesterday was a Mary B , from Hatton Grarden, a young 

woman of a sweet and gracious appearance and discourse, 
who, with her mother and a numerous family, were early 
cast upon God's care, who hath cared for them according to 



A SPIRIT FULL OF INSPIRATIONS. 139 

His promise. I was much pleased with the simplicity and 
sincerity of her heart, and the affectionate way in which she 
spoke of her Lord ; so that she left no doubt on my mind of 
her being, to the extent of her knowledge and talents, a 
faithful and true disciple. I shall seek another interview 
with her ; for I do not feel that I have got acquainted with 
her spirit, or else it is of so simple and catholic a form as to 
have no character to distinguish it. The next was my old ac- 
quaintance, Sarah Evans, the wild girl, who was somewhat 
carried in her mind, if you remember, in the beginning of a 

sermon, and whom I visited at Dr 's, in Bloomsbury. I 

little expected to see her so soon, and so completely restored ; 
although she still gives one the idea of one on whom our 
friend Greaves would work wonders by animal magnetism. I 
have a moral certainty that this is her temperament, and that 
her temporary instability was rather a somnambulism of the 
spirit than any insanity or derangement of mind. Since her 
seventeenth year she has been a denizen of this great hive of 
men, friendless and without kindred, and has partook the 
watchful care of the Great Shepherd. She is a spirit full of 
inspirations. Her very words are remarkable, and there is a 
strange abundance and fertility in her sayings which astonishes 
me. She has already had much influence on her fellow- 
servants, who have banished cards and idle, worldly books. 
Poor Sarah! (and yet thou art not poor), I feel a strange 
feeling towards thee, as if thou wert not wholly dwelling 
upon the earth, nor wholly present when I converse with 
thee. And sure it is, dear Isabella, she has always to recall 
herself, as from a distance, before she answers your inquiries ; 
and even the word is but like an echo. Of her spirituality I 
have no doubt, though still she seems to me like a stranger. 

Her master at present is Dr. H , one of my brother's 

medical teachers here, who inquires at her occasionally about 
my brother, and about the Caledonian Church ; from which 
I presume that every one recognizes in her the same unlike- 
ness to another, and to her station. 

" These occupied me till eleven o'clock, after which I went 
forth to breathe the air into the garden, in expectation of an- 
" other visitor ; and, as usual, for his memory hangs on every 
twig, the little darling whom I used to fondle and instruct 
came to my remembrance, and bowed me down with a mo- 
mentary sorrow, which passed, full of sweetness, into what 
train of thought I have now forgotten. I occupied myself 
with my Convocation book, which is to me what a politician 
and Christian of the year 1600 would be, if I could have 



140 LAWS OF THE SOUL. 

him to converse with me and deliver his opinions. It em- 
bodies the ideas of the English Church, in full convocation, 
upon all points connected with the government of the Church 
and of the world ; and hath done more than any other thing 
to scatter the rear of radicalism from my mind, and to give 
me insight into the true principles of obedience to govern- 
ment. There are, my dear, certain great feelings or laws of 
the soul, under which it grows into full stature ; of which 
obedience to government is one, communion with the Church 
is another, trust in the providence of Grod another, and so 
forth ; which form the original demand in the soul, both for 
religion, and law, and family, and to answer which these 
were appointed of Grod, and are preserved by His authority. 
My notion is, that the ten commandments contain the ten 
principal of these mother-elements of a thriving soul — these 
laws of laws, and generating principles of all institutions. 
These also, I think, ought to be made the basis of every 
system of moral and political philosophy. But all this is 
but looming upon my eye, and durst not be spoken in Scot- 
land, under the penalty of high treason against their laws of 
logic, and their enslaved spirit of discourse. By-the-by, 
when I speak of Scotland, it was about this time of day when 
I received a letter from Dr Grordon, asking me to preach a 
sermon in some chapel which Dr Waugh has procured for 
the Scots Missionary Society, and bring the claims of that 
Society before the great people of London. I mean to an- 
swer it by referring them to my Orations on the Missionary 
Doctrine, as being my contribution to the Society. . . . But 
I must go to the church to preach from John xiv. 27. The 
Lord strengthen me ! 

" And now, having enjoyed no small portion of His pre- 
sence for one so unworthy, I return to my sweet occupation 
of making my dear Isabella the sharer and partner of my 
very soul. Erom the garden, where I communed with the 
canons of the convocation, and with my own meditations on 
these elemental principles of wisdom, I returned, and upon 
looking over my paper, I found I had no more visitors till 
five o'clock ; so I addressed myself to my discourse, which I 
purposed from G-al. ii. 20, in continuation and enlargement 
of that from Phil. i. 21 ; but going into the context, I was 
drawn away to write concerning the Church in Antioch, 
which occasioned the dispute between Paul and Peter, until 
I found it was too late to return ; so that my discourse has 
changed its shape into a lecture, and where it will end you 
shall know on Sabbath, if the Lord spare me. At five came 






A RE-UNION OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 141 

a young man, by name Peter Samuel, of a boyish appearance, 
very modest and backward, a native of Edinburgh, and by 
trade a painter in grain ; in whom, Isabella, I found such 
real utterance of the spirit, such an uplifted and enlarged 
soul, that I could but lie back upon my chair and listen. 
The Lord bless the youth ! It was very marvellous ; such 
grace, such strength of understanding, such meekness, such 
wisdom ! He is also one of the fruits of my ministry ; had 
wandered like a sheep without a shepherd, ' creeping by the 
earth,' until, in hearing me, he seemed exalted into the third 
heavens, at times hardly knowing whether he was in the 
body or out of the body. ' And all the day long, at my work, 
I am happy and in communion with the church, which is 
everywhere diifused around me like the air ; ' and he arose 
into the mysteries of the Trinity, and his soul expatiated in a 
marvellous way. At six I had made doable appointments ; 
the one for James Scott, a stately, bashful lad from Earlston, 
on the Leader, between Lauder and Melrose — the residence, 
in days of yore, of Thomas the Rhymer — who is come to town 
to prosecute his studies as an artist. He is already in full 
communion with the church, but loved the opportunity of 
conversing with me ; and the other was of two who desire 
to come in company, John E — ■ — , a man of about thirty-five, 

and C , a young lad about twenty. Moreover, Samuel had 

not departed ; and I think they had been congregated of the 
Lord on very purpose to encourage my heart and strengthen 
my hands, for it is not to be told what a heavenly hour they 
spent in making known the doings of the Lord to their 
souls ; and the two latter told me that every Sabbath they 
held meetings, before and after church, with others of the 
church. Poor Samuel had been lamenting his loneliness, but 
now his soul was filled with company who welcomed him to 
their heart ; and Scott had now one whose spirit and man- 
ners attracted him ; and I was lost in wonder how the Lord 
should work such things by my unworthiness. But remem- 
bering my ministerial calling, I opened to them the duty of 
self-denial in the expression of our spiritual experiences be- 
fore the world, lest they should profane the sanctuaries of 
our God ; and the necessity of wisdom to veil with parable 
and similitude, before the weak eye of man, the brightness 
of the pure and simple truth, reserving for the Lord and for 
his saints the unveiled revelations of our higher delights. 
Upon which life having enlarged to their great seeming con- 
tentment, we joined our prayers together, and they departed. 
Now these men who thus commune together are of most di- 



142 "a very etch harvest." 

verse ranks. C is a gentleman's son ; B , though of 

high expectations, has been reduced to fill some inferior 
office in Clement's Inn ; and the others, whom I know, are 
Scotch lads, working as journeymen ; so true is it that there 
is no difference in Christ Jesus. After seven I went to the 
meeting of the Sabbath-school teachers. . . After I returned 

home, I wrote a letter to Constantinople to L , who 

sends us the figs, exhorting him to stand fast among the 
alien ; which altogether was a day of such exhaustion as un- 
fitted me for writing to you the particulars of it, that you 
might rejoice in my joy, and give praise unto the Lord, when 
you know the blessing which He is pouring out upon my 
ministry. Oh, that He would give me food for these sheep, 
and a rich pasture, and a shepherd's watchfulness, and the 
love of the chief Shepherd, that I might even die for them if 
need were ! In all which spiritual conditions I am much en- 
couraged by what yesterday the Lord brought before me. 

" And now, dearest, this day hath been a day of thought 
which has hardly yet taken form to be distinctly repre- 
sented ; but on Sabbath I will communicate the result. Only 
I have had much insight given me into the Epistle to the 
Gralatians, from which the matter of my discourse will be 
taken. At six I went forth to my duties, and opened to my 
children the nature of the Christian Church, as being to the 
world what the new man is to the old ; what the body, after 
the resurrection, is to the present body. . . After which, 
commending them to the grace of Grod, I returned to the 
vestry, and came forth again to discourse to the people of 
Christ's bequest of peace. . . But though my head could 
thus rudely block out the matter, I wanted strength and 
skill to delineate it as it deserved ; which, if I be in strength, 
I shall do it another time. . . After the lecture, ten more 
came desirous to converse with me ; so that I shall have, by 
the blessing of Grod, a very rich harvest this season. . . . The 
Lord be with thy spirit ! 

" Thursday, Nov. 3rd. — Last night, my dearest Isabella, 
upon my bed I had one of those temptations of Satan, with 
which I perceive, by your affectionate letter, that you are oft 
troubled, and which I shall therefore recount to you. The 
occasion of it was the memory of our beloved boy, who hath 
now got home out of Satan's dominion. That morning he 
was taken by the Lord I was sleeping in the back room, 
when dear sister Anne, who loved him as dearly as we all 
did, came in about three or four o'clock in the morning, and 
said, ' Gret up, for Edward is much worse.' The sound of 



RECEIVING FRIENDS. 143 

these words, caught in my sleeping ear, snot a cold shiver 
through my frame like the hand of death, and I arose. Of 
this I had not thought again till, last night on my bed, be- 
fore sleeping, Satan seemed to bring to my ear these words ; 
and, as he brought them, the cold shiver trickled to my 
very extremities. I thought to wile it away, but it was vain ; 
and T remembered that the only method of dealing with him 
is by faith, and of overcoming him by the word of Gk)d. So 
I took his suggestion in good part, and meditated all the 
sufferings of the darling, which are too fresh upon my mind ; 
and sought to ascend, by that help, to the sympathy of our 
Lord's sufferings, and to take refuge (as the old divines say) 
in the clefts of His wounds till this evil should be overpast. 
Whereupon there came sweet exercises of faith, which occu- 
pied me till I fell asleep, and awoke this morning in the fear 
of the Lord. I make Mondays and Thursdays my days of 
receiving friends ; and while we were engaged with worship, 

Mr Ker came in, and, after prayers, Mr C . I was happy 

to understand from the former that Mr Cunningham, of 
Harrow, has become a violent opponent of the expediency 
principle in respect to the Apocrypha,* and think the com- 
mittee will come to the righteous conclusion, which will 

please our good father much. Mr C came on purpose 

to communicate the dying injunction of a friend who had 
been converted from Unitarianism by my discourse on that 
heresy last summer, and had died full of faith and joy before 
fulfilling his purpose of joining my church. I trust he hath 
joined our Church of the firstborn, whose names are written 
in heaven. As we went to the city together Mr Ker bore 
the same testimony to the blessing of my discourses to his 
soul. . . . For which I desire you to give thanks unto the 
Lord when you pray secretly, or with Mary ; for it is a great 
blessing to our household to be so honoured. I found our 
friend David at length able to see me again, who has passed 
through a terrible storm of afflictions, swimming for his life, 
and tried with great agony of the body ; but in his soul above 
measure strengthened and endowed with patience, and full 
of holy purposes and continued acknowledgment to the Lord. 
. . . His wife, and Martha, her sister, bore testimony to the 
goodness of the Lord, and we joined our souls in thanks- 
giving with one accord. 

* Referring to the hot and bitter conflict then going on in the Bible 
Society, chiefly between the parent Society in England and its Scotch 
auxiliaries, which were vehemently opposed to the insertion of the Apocrypha 
along with the canonical Scriptures. 



144 PASTORAL VISITS. 

" Thence I went on my way to our friends the Gr s, 

who now live in America Square, towards the Tower. I 
know not how it is, but I feel a certain infirmity and back- 
wardness to speak to Alex. Gr concerning spiritual things, 

though I love him, and believe that he loves the truth; 
against which, by the grace of God, I was enabled in some 
measure to prevail, and make some manifestation of the 
truth, and unite in prayer, which had the effect of bringing 
him to signify his purpose of waiting upon me (I suppose 
concerning the communion). The Lord receive this worthy 
and honourable youth into the number of his chosen ! Thence 

returning, I felt an inclination to pay a visit to Miss F , 

in Philpot Lane ; but resolved again to proceed on more 
urgent errands, and passed the head of the lane, and was 
drawn back, I know not by what inducement, and proceeded 
against my purpose. It was the good will of the Lord that 
I should comfort one of His saints, and He suffered me not 
to pass. I found the mother of that family, who has long 
walked with Grod, and travailed in birth for the regeneration 
of all her children, laid down by a confusion in her head, 
which threatened apoplexy or palsy ; and now for three days 
afflicted, without that clear manifestation of the Holy Com- 
forter which might have been expected in one so exercised 
with faith and holiness. Many of the friends and kindred 
were assembled in the large room below, and the father and 
the children ; to whom having ministered the word of warn- 
ing and exhortation, and prayed with one accord for the 
state of the sick, I went up to her bed-chamber with the 
father and daughters, and found the aged mother lying 
upon the bed more composed than I had expected. I taught 
her that Christ was the same, though her faculties were be- 
dimmed ; that her soul should the more long to escape from 
behind the dark eclipse of the clouds ; but not to disbelieve 
in His mercy, because her body burdened her, and caused 
her to groan. "We bowed down and prayed, and the Lord 
gave me a large utterance ; and when I had ceased, I could 
not refrain myself from continuing to kneel, and hold the 
hand of the dear saint, and comfort her, and utter many 
ejaculatory prayers for her soul's consolation; and I was 
moved even to tears for the love of her soul. "With which 
having parted, her daughters, who remained behind, came 
down and told us that she was much comforted, and had pr<^ 
posed to compose herself to rest. The Lord rest her e 
and prepare it for His kingdom ! though I hope she ma) 
restored again to health. ... i 



CORREGGIO'S " ST JOHN.'' 145 

" Thence I proceeded to Bedford Square, by Cheapside, 
and gave Mr Hamilton charge of your letter, which may you 
receive safe, and with a blessing, for it is intended for your 
comfort and edification in the faith ; that you may know the 
goodness of the Lord to your head, and rejoice and give 
thanks. On my way to Bedford Square, I called at Mr 
Macaulay's, having heard that he and his wife were poorly ; 
and with a view, if opportunity offered, of saying a word to 
their son concerning Milton's true character, if so be that 
he is the author of that critique. For I held with him once, 
but now am assured that Milton, in his character, was the 
archangel of Radicalism, of which I reckon Henry Brougham 
to be the arch-fiend. But I found they had gone to Hannah 
More's for retirement and discourse. The Lord bless their 
communion ! I called at Mr Procter's to look at two mar- 
vellous heads by Correggio — the one of the Virgin about to 
be crowned with stars ; the other of St John : certainly, be- 
yond comparison, the most powerful heads I have ever seen. 
The latter, they say, is a portrait of me. But I do not think 
so. I cannot both be like the Baptist and the beloved 
Apostle ; I would I were in spirit, for the flesh profiteth no- 
thing. Anne P and the child continue to do well, and 

the poet is already a very tender father •. The Coun- 
sellor and I had a good deal of private discourse 

He is a tender father, and a well-meaning man, but wilful ; 
and wilfulness, dear Isabella, is weakness and inutility ; the 
excess of will being to the same effect as the defect of will. Yet 
I love him, and he loves me, and permits me to open truth, 
in a certain guise to his ear. The Lord give me wisdom, if 
it were only for this family ! I returned home to peruse 
Eckhard's ' Rome,' and to worship with my family and read 
the Holy Scriptures, and conclude by writing the summary 
of the day to my dear wife. And now I return to my cham- 
ber, thankful unto Thee, oh my Father, who hast protected 
thine unworthy child, and not allowed him this day to stray 
far from thy commandments. Thou hast made me to know 
Thee ; Thou hast exercised my soul with love and kindness ; 
Thou hast called me out of the world by prayer. I bless 
Thee, oh my God ; I exceedingly bless Thee ! And now, my 
tender wife, go on to seek the Lord ; wait upon Him ; en- 
treat Him ; importune Him. Do not let Him go till He 
'nve thee thy heart's desire. And thou, Margaret, my sister, 
Soc bmit thy strong spirit unto the Lord, and thou shalt find 
am ace. And Elizabeth, my sister, persevere in the good part 
alo: lich thou hast chosen, and thou wilt find all that is pro- 

10 



146 ECCLESIASTICUS. 

mised to be true and faithful. And, my lovely Anne, be 
composed in thy spirit by Grod, who will deliver thee from 
all things that disconcert and trouble, and make thy spirit 
lovely. And, my David, remember our covenants of love 
with one another, wherein thou wert oft moved to desire 
Grod. Oh, forget Him not, my children ! "Walk before Him, 

and be ye perfect May He keep us as the apple of 

the eye, and hide us under the shadow of His wings this 
night ; and when we awake in the morning, may we be satis- 
fied with His likeness ! 

" Tuesday, Nov. 4tth. — I feel it necessary already to be on 
my guard against the adversary, lest he should convert these 
journals, intended for the comfort of my dear wife, into an 
occasion of self-display or self-delusion; and the more be- 
cause I have been singularly blessed by the goodness of the 
Lord, which, you would say, was the best protection against 
him; but the Lord judged otherwise when, after enriching 
Paul with such revelations, he saw it wise to give him a 
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest 
he should be exalted above measure. Therefore let me watch 
my pen, and the Lord watch my soul, that nothing pass thence 
to the eye of my partner which may in any wise convey a 
false impression of my heart. I have resumed my custom of 
reading the lessons of the day, besides the Psalms, whatever 
else I may read out of the Holy Scriptures, and was struck, 
in reading out of Ecclesiasticus, with the odour of earthli- 
ness which there is about the wisdom of it. It is rather 
shrewd than divine ; and, I am convinced, has little heaven- 
ward drift in it to the soul. But how much more spiritual 
than the maxims of Rochefoucault, or any other modern who 
has sought to express himself by aphorisms ! I was in great 
danger of falling under the spirit of indolence after break- 
fast, and loitering. The sensation about my eyes, which fore- 
tells a listless day, made its appearance ; and I felt inclined 
to stretch my limbs, and take up a book at hand, and while 
away the time. But I thank God, who enabled me to with- 
stand the enemy, and to stir myself up to study, which I pro- 
secuted with a view to my morning sermon. This is begin- 
ning to take shape, and will form, I judge, a digest of the 
Epistle to the Gralatians, or a statement of the Apostle's 
argument for the abolition of the law and the liberty of 
faith, in order to my afterwards showing our deliverance 
from the forms of the world into the liberty of Christ. 

" This was a fast-day to me, at least a soup-day, which I 
judged good for my health, so that I felt languid the whole 



TWO LONDON BOYS. 147 

forenoon until four, when Miss A called to conduct me 

to her house. The two Miss A s joined our church at 

the last communion. Their mother had died some months 
before, and they are orphans. They win their bread by the 
needle, and dwell with "two younger brothers, whom they 
wished me much to converse with. Those two brothers have 
no one over them, and are as wild as the beasts of the wood. 
Though only fifteen and seventeen, I was perfectly amazed 
at the irreverent, thoughtless way in which they behaved 
when I entered — nothing awed, nothing moved, but full of 
conceit and self-possession. The eldest is a clerk in a writer's 
(Anglice, attorney's) office ; the younger is a sort of clerk to 
a councillor, — one to keep the door of his office open, and to 
go errands — for whom his master is glad to find something 
to do. Oh! what a horrid effect London has upon the cha- 
racter of children ! It is only beginning to be revealed to 
me in its native deformity. The awful iniquity of a great 
city. is nothing to its silent effects in deteriorating the races 
of men. They really dwindle as if they were plants. I saw 
at once that if I was to be profitable to these two lads it was 
by authority as well as by affection ; so I resolved to teach 
them the reverence of Grod, and of Grod's word, and of God's 
messenger. The eldest sat over against me on the other side 
of the fire, the two sisters working at the table, and the 
youngest beyond the table, and he would not be persuaded 
to come near me. I opened my way by speaking of their 
orphan state, and their want of counsel and authority over 
them. Then I passed to the authority of Grod, and opened 
the tendency of youth to be headstrong and untamed. The 
eldest, I perceived, was full of observation and thought. He 
could not divide the matter between the authority and affec- 
tion with which I spoke. By degrees I got him to open his 
mind, which was very wilful. I continued to oppose to his 
whims the will of Grod, and would not lower the discourse to 
any compromise, or indulgence to any of his moods. His 
brother had to go away earlier ; and after getting him to sit 
beside me, I spoke to him with great earnestness and affec- 
tion, and blessed him ; but whether he was moved from his 
indolent and lethargic obstinacy, I know not. Then with 
the eldest I dealt for another hour, in various discourse, 
which I am now too weary to recall. And when I knew not 
what impression I had made upon his short and hasty tem- 
per, which I saw writhing between the awe of the truths 
which I spoke, and the irritation of the mastery which I held 
ever him, the lad rose from his seat, and went to a press and 



148 A LOGICAL COMPANION. 

took out a parcel, from which he drew forth a set of beautiful 
little prints of Bible subjects, and asked if I had seen them. 
I answered, no. Then, said he, ■ Will you accept them from 
me ? ' I hesitated ; but perceiving it was altogether neces- 
sary, if I would have any further dealing with this strange 
spirit, I took them ; and here they are before me. Upon 

which his hour of seven having come, he went his way 

I am weary, but very well ; and give the Lord thanks for his 
goodness, praying Him to strengthen me with rest. St Pan- 
eras is ringing up the hill twelve o'clock. So the Lord com- 
pass you and my beloved child. Farewell ! 

"Saturday, Nov. 5. — I had all arranged to finish this 
sheet and send it off to-night ; but James P — ■ — is come, and 
has occupied me so much, and the Sabbath is now on the 
verge of coming in, and I have much before me, therefore I 
delay this day's summary till to-morrow evening, if Grod 
spare me. But that I might not go to bed without blessing 
you and our tender lamb, I have taken up my pen to write — 
That the Lord Grod, whom I serve, would be the guardian of 
.my wife and child until He restore them to the sight of his 
servant. Amen. 

" Sabhath, Nov. 6. — And now, my dearest Isabella, I am 
alone with thee again, and can give thee the news which are 
dearest to thy heart, that the Lord hath not deserted His 
unworthy servant this day, but hath been, especially in the 
evening, present to my soul, and given me a large door of 
utterance, I trust to the edification of His church, and the 
comforting of His people. Yesterday I had laboured all the 
morning with a constant and steady diligence, and about one 
o'clock was in full sight of land, with strength of hand still 
left me to have finished this letter, and so cheated the lazy 

post, when, as I said, James P stept in ; in whom, to be 

brief, I find we shall have a most easily accommodated in- 
mate, if so he likes to become, and a very shrewd, logical 
companion, full of political economy and of mathematics, who 
cannot help stating everything as if it were a question to be 
resolved by the Calculus, and cannot conceive of any ideas 
or knowledge which are to be otherwise come at than by the 
methods of the intellect ; which error I have laboured hard 
to correct in him, and not, I believe, without some partial 
success. He is one of the coolest, shrewdest intellects^ I 
have ever met with, — sweetly disposed, very gentle, and easily 

served My morning lesson this day was the 2nd 

chapter of the Hebrews, in which is taught us this great 
lesson, that we shall partake with Christ in the government 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 149 

of the world to come, which I take to be the same with the 
' rest that remaineth,' mentioned in the 4th chapter, or the 
perfection of the present dispensation of the Grospel in the 

millennial state Also there is tanght us, though but 

incidentally, the end of His incarnation, to destroy death, and 
him that hath the power of death, and deliver us from the 
fear and bondage of death. Let us enter into faith, my dear 
wife, and be delivered from the blow which death hath 

brought us Also He took our flesh that we might 

be assured of our oneness ; that we might be able to give 
ourselves to the hope of His glory, He did first join himself 
to the reality of our humility. My discourse was a view of 
the doctrine of the Epistle to the G-alatians, introductory to 

discourses upon Gral. ii. 19, 20 This introduction, sum 

of doctrine, and threefold argument embraced the whole 
Epistle, which I had thus digested into my discourse, with 
application of each branch of the argument to the present 
times and all times ; but I was able to deliver only about a 
half of it, and withal our service reached to within a quarter 
of two. My evening chapter was the 21st of Grenesis, when 
I felt my mouth opened in a remarkable way to bear testi- 
mony to the want of faith in this generation, who would em- 
brace the heavens and the earth, and the truth and majesty 
of Grod, within the nutshell of their own intellect, and be- 
lieve in Grod not a hair's-breadth beyond their intellectual 
sight, — which, adopted by children as scholars, would destroy 
the school — by subjects, would destroy government ; and, in 
short, that these sacred things all hang together, and must 

sink or swim with faith I was much strengthened in 

this discourse, and in both my prayers Mr E— 

was there morning and evening. The Lord add that youth 
to His Church ! I travail for him. Earewell, dear Isabella. 
You cannot have so much pleasure in reading these as I have 
in writing them. The blessing of the Lord be with my babe — 
my tender babe. The blessing of the Lord be with her 

mother — her tempted but victorious mother 

" Monday, 7th November. — Though wearied, my dearest 
Isabella, with a day of much activity, and afterwards with the 
exposition of that blessed Psalm, this night's lesson, and now 

with much discourse and discussion to James P , whom I 

like exceedingly, and William Hamilton, all concerning the 
subordination of the sensual or visible, and the intellectual or 
knowable, to the spiritual or redeemable (the first giving the 
typography, the second giving the method, and the last the sub- 
stance of all true and excellent discourse), I do now sit down 



150 little edward's ministry. 

with true spiritual delight to commune with my soul's sweet 
mate. Tea, hath not the Lord made us for one another, and 
by His providence united us to one another, against many fiery 
trials and terrible delusions of Satan ? And, as you yourself 
observed, has He not over again wedded us, far more closely 
than m any joy, by our late tribulation, and the burial of our 
lovely Edward, our holy first-born, who gave up the ghost in 
order to make his father and mother one, and expiate the dis- 
cords and divisions of their souls ? Dear spirit, thou dearest 
spirit which doth tenant heaven, this is the mystery of thy 
burial on the wedding-day * of thy parents, to make them for 
ever one. Oh, and thou shalt be sanctified, God blessing, by 
such a concord and harmony of soul as hath not often blessed 
the earth since Eden was forfeited by sin. My wife, this is not 
poetry, this is not imagination which I write ; it is truth, rely 
upon it, it is truth that lovely Edward hath been the sweet 
offering of peace between us for ever ; and so, when we meet 
in heaven, he shall be as the priest who joined us,— the child of 
months being one hundred years old. Let my dear wife be 
comforted by these thoughts of her true love. I found much 
sweet meditation upon my bed last night ; and when I awoke 
in the morning He was with me, and I had much countenance 
of the Lord in my secret devotions ; and when I descended 
found Mr T , the preacher, and Mr Bull met in the break- 
fast parlour, and Mr P seated in the library. That preacher 

is very clever, and infinitely prolific in his vein, and that no 
contemptible one ; but volatile and wild as the winds, yet 
musical in his mirth, and full of heartiness and good will. But 
he serveth joyaunce of the mind, and has not yoked himself to 
any workmanship ; and I have accordingly exhorted him to be 
about his Master's work — to get him down into the battle, and 
take his post. Mr Bull brought me a very sweet frontispiece, 
which he has executed for Montgomery's Psalmist, one of Col- 
lins' s series As usual, his bashful, meek company was very 

sweet to me. 

" "When they went, Miss N came, who can believe none, 

and would iutellectualize everything ; and consequently looks 
for her religious prosperity in expedients of the intellectual or 
visible world, or in means, as they call them ; (but, Isabella, 
nothing is a means of grace in which Christ is not seen to be 
present, whence he is called the Mediator or mean-creator) which, 
I told her, I could no longer indulge her in, by framing my dis- 
course to her subtleties, but would read her the word of Grod, 

* This much-lamented child was buried on the 14th October, the second 
anniversary of their marriage. 



i 



INFLUENCE OF CUSTOM. 151 

to which, if she framed her mind by faith, then it would be well ; 
but if not, she must utterly perish. After which reading of the 
103rd Psalm, being moved in my spirit with love to her, I pro- 
nounced over her, without rising, a prayer which made her weep 
abundantly — tears, I trust, which may by Grod's grace reap joy 
hereafter. She says I have demolished all the glory of her 
building, and she stands as upon a ruin of herself. I say unto 

you, Miss N" , Christ can alone build up and mould your 

shattered mind to the similitude of his own mind. Tou see, my 

dear, what boldness the Lord is endowing me with What 

clean, black villany, what unwrinkled villany, there was upon 
those countenances I met in Saffron Hill and Field Lane, on 
my way to the Bible Society, where, among others, I saw the 
face of Father Simon, looking with all its eager unrest ; and 
there being nothing of importance to detain me, I came away 
with the old worthy, and held such discourse with him as the 
Strand heareth not oft, until we reached the Temple, whither 
he entered to his business, and I returned to the city to dine 
with Mr Dinwiddie and Wm Hamilton ; and on my way, having 
found a receiving-house, I committed your letter to the care of 
the post ; but, ah ! forgot the blessing or prayer for its safe ar- 
rival, so doth the rust of custom corrode the frame of our piety. 
Life should be a web of piety ; custom makes it a web of im- 
piety. My dear, we must be redeemed in all things from wick- 
edness to serve the living Grod. Having dined with my friends, 
I proceeded at three to visit Mr David, who had yesterday a 
relapse, and is this day very low. The surgeon apprehended 
no danger ; but I know not how it is, I fear we are going to 
lose him. His soul is winged with faith : let it take its flight. 
He also is my son in the G-ospel. I could not see him, but we 
lifted up our hearts together for his health and salvation. Then 

I proceeded to Mrs T ; and now, my dear, learn a lesson of 

spiritual life, and let me learn what I am now to teach thee. 
This sweet mother, whom I greatly love, said to me, 'All dark- 
ness, all darkness ; what if it should have been all self-decep- 
tion ? ' That is, the Lord was shaking His saint out of the last 
refuge of Satan, which he takes in the righteousness which 
hath been wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. As Knox said on 
his death-bed, ' The enemy has been trying me with represent- 
ations of the work which has been done by me.' .... 

" From thence I proceeded to the Session, where we pro- 
ceeded with good harmony and union, till they came to speak 
of time ; and then I told them they must talk no more to me 
concerning the ministry of the word, for I would submit to no 
authority in that matter but the authority of the church, from 



152 THE PEACE-OFFERING. 

which also I would take liberty to appeal if it gainsaid my con- 
science. I am resolved that two hours and a half I will have 

the privilege of. "Write me your judgment in this matter 

"We had another meeting, at seven, of the congregation 

So I returned, and one o'clock sounding in my ears from Pan- 
eras church, I bid you farewell for the night, and pray the Lord 
to bless you, and our little treasure, and her who hath joined 
herself to our house, and hath a right to the share of its bless- 
ings. Farewell, my spouse ! 

" Wednesday, 9th November. — I sit down, my dearest, after 
a day of languishing and mourning, rather more cheerful and 
refreshed than I have deserved to be ; for, whether from defect- 
ive sleep or over-fatigue yesterday, I have been very dead and 
lifeless all day long, until the evening roused me to some spirit- 
ual exercises. Satan could not have had this occasion against 
me, but for my own most blameworthy conduct in preferring 
man before Grod in the services of the morning. For, having 

promised to take James P down to Bedford Square to 

breakfast, I hurried over both my private and family worship. 
Now this is such infinite irreverence done unto the majesty of 
heaven, that I know not how any stronger proof of want of faith 

could be found. . . . When we returned from Mr M 's, I 

endeavoured to seek the Lord in my closet, but found Him not. 
He hid His countenance, and my heart was left to the bitter- 
ness of being alone. I took to the reading of the 3rd chapter 
of Hebrews, in the original, with a view to pasture for my 
people : and afterwards to the 22nd of Genesis, with the same 
end in view, of which I have been able to make out eight verses. 
I wish to read the Sabbath lessons, at least, in the Hebrew, and 
to make both lessons a diligent study through the week, with 
Pool's ' Synopsis ' before me ; and I have besought the Lord, as I 
do now again beseech Him, that I may continue in this right- 
eous and dutiful custom. In the Hebrew, it would perhaps be 
an entertainment to your heart to accompany me, that we may 
not be divided in this study when we meet again. But I forget 
that you have the dear babe to watch over ; for whom, my dear, 
let our souls be exercised rather than for the dead. Oh, let us 
wrestle with Grod for her soul, that she may not be caught away 
from us at unawares. I wish she were here, that I might in my 
arms present her to the Lord every morning and evening- 
Tour letter gave me great delight, and came to cheer me in my 
spiritual mourning. The Lord continue to support your soul, 
and to be your portion ! Oh, how blessed has been thy death, 
my beloved, to thy parents' souls ! thou first-fruits of our union, 
and peace-offering of our family, dearly -beloved child, who never 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY. 153 

frowned on any one, and never fretted, but moaned the approach 
of that enemy which was to bereave us of thee ! . . . . 

" I sought to begin the discourse on Gralatians ii. 19, whose 
object it will be to show that an outward law is always a sign 
of bondage, and that the inward willingness is liberty, which a 
Divine indwelling spirit can alone beget and maintain within 
us. Pray that I may be enabled to handle this mighty theme 
to the glory of Grod, and the promotion of the ^Redeemer's 
kingdom. For it calls upon all that is within me, and I shall 

have this and the following week to give to it Too many 

cares of philanthropy, dear, are as seductive as any other cares ; 
it is divinity which alone can sustain philanthropy. But a 
divine is become like a phoenix. We know one, but he is near 
in ashes, and who is to arise in his stead, I know not. . . . 

After leaving the study, Mr P and I walked together 

At six, I had the visit of another child of my ministry, Miss 
Miller, in whom I found a very humble and sweet spirit, 
thoroughly, as I trust, convinced of sin, and purged of her sin. 
After conversing and praying with her, I went out to Mr and 
Mrs Hall, at their own request, to open the subject of the com- 
munion to their souls, when I set it forth by the parable of the 
prodigal son. That at baptism we had obtained our freedom in 
our Father's house, who ever since had divided to us our por- 
tion of gifts, graces, and opportunities, which we had prodigally 
squandered ; but, taking pity on us, He doth keep open table 
in His house, in order to welcome every one who hath a long- 
ing to return. He breaketh bread and poureth out wine, the 
body and blood of His Son's sacrifice, for every one who will 
come, as the prodigal came, heartily repenting, and humbly con- 
fessing his sin. This, therefore, is what I desire — the sense of 
sin, and the faith that it is to be forgiven only through the 
blood of Christ. For the enlightening of the mind, for the 
convincing of the heart, and the converting of the whole soul, 
it is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is the gift of Christ to 
His weak but faithful disciples. Oh, dearest, how profitable 
is that mystery of the Trinity to my soul ! The husband and 
wife heard me with tears. I trust these are tokens for good. 
The Lord enable them to retain upon their souls those feelings 
towards Him which they this night expressed to me. By these 
exercises my spirit was restored. The Lord hath restored my 
soul, and I was able to comfort the family with the 42nd Psalm, 
and I trust to encourage my own spirit Now, the bless- 
ing of the Lord rest upon my wife, and child, and servant this 
night, who have not separated, I know, without commending 
me to the Lord ! Thus do we unite our interests on high, and 



154 MISSIONARIES. 

lay in our proofs and pledges of mutual love with our heavenly 
Father Farewell ! 

" Thursday, 10th November, 1825. — I pray the Lord so to 
quicken my love to my dear wife, and so to move my soul with 
the spirit of truth and wisdom, as that I shall much comfort 
and edify her by the words which I am about to write. Yes- 
terday I so wore myself out with the various duties I had to 
discharge, that I was hardly able to do the offices of family 
worship, and, in utter inability, forewent my sweet interview 
of faith with my Isabella ; no, not of faith, but of these visible 
emblems of faith, for the interview of the spirit I truly had 

with you I have fulfilled your commission to Mrs Hall, 

who received your gift with much thankfulness. Our maid is 
now gone, and we are a very happy and, I trust, contented 
household. In the church last night I opened the real contents 
of the new covenant (Hebrews viii. 10, to the end) to the 
young communicants, who are about to enter by the proper 
form to the renewal of it. For you will observe, dearest, that 
there was a renewal of the covenant when the children of 
Israel entered into the land of promise, as there is to us : first, 
the granting it at baptism to the faith of our parents ; and 
again, the renewal of it over the sacrifice of our own faith. 
Now these contracts are, 1st, the law within, and no longer 
without, that is, liberty of soul to obey God, instead of restraint 
of fear ; 2nd, the ruling of Grod over us, and our subjection to 
Him in all willingness ; 3rd, the teaching of His Spirit in all 
His revelations ; 4th, the absolution of all our sinfulnesa 
through Christ's atonement. The first being the conversion 
of our will ; the second, the maintenance of our weakness ; the 
third, the enlightening of our knowledge ; the fourth, the 
purging of our conscience from all fear. "What an inheritance, 
my dear wife, is this to which you, and I, and all believers are 
admitted ! Let us enter it, let us enter into it. Why can we 
not enter into the willingness, the confirmation, the enlighten- 
ing, the peace of it ? We cannot enter in by reason of un- 
belief. Now encourage one another, I pray you, for the time 
is short. 

" This morning we mustered a goodly company, though it 
was the stormiest morning almost I remember ; three mission- 
aries from the Mission House, our broad-faced Wiirtemberg 
friend, so dear to us all, and a countryman, and an East Indian, 
half-caste, preparing for his return to preach to the Hindoos. 
They tell me there are at present two of their countrymen at 
St Petersburgh fulfilling to the letter our Lord's instructions 
to his disciples. I have a very strong purpose of sending over 



READINGS IN HEBREW. 155 

to all the Mission Houses copies of my Orations for the sake 
of the youth ; and to this effect of ordering Hamilton to send 
me all that are not sold, and desiring him to transmit the pro- 
ceeds of the sale which there has been to the widow of Smith. 
Tell me what you think of this. The G-erman missionaries at 
Karass soon found out the unproductiveness of Scottish pru- 
dence when applied to propagate the Gospel, and are fast 
recurring to the primitive method on the confines of Persia, 
where they at present labour. They speak of a great revival 
in the Prussian kingdom ; more than a hundred young 
preachers have gone forth from the universities to preach the 
Grospel. The Lord prosper his work ! To-morrow a number 
of young missionaries are to receive their instructions at a 
public meeting in Freemason's Hall, and they are to set out 
for Malta some time this month. The Lord is their helper. I 
took occasion, from the 51sfc Psalm, to speak to them of the 
qualifications there referred to. . . . After their departure, I 
addressed myself to my sweet studies of reading the lessons of 
the day, and meditating the lessons of Sabbath in the original 
tongues. . . . Afterwards I betook myself to my lecture on 
Christ's attendants and sustenance in his ministry, Luke viii. 
2, 3, which is a subject of great importance and fruitfulness, 
if the Lord see it good to open it to me by His Spirit, which 
I do now earnestly pray. James and I, after dinner (we have 
now got the wine-cellar open, and I have ordered Hall a bottle 
of Madeira to strengthen him), went down to Bedford Square, 
where I had a good deal of profitable conversation with our 
dear friends. But before I went out I received a parcel, . . in 
which was a fine lace cap and wrought robe for our dear de- 
parted boy ; . . . . our darling hath now a more precious robe 
than can be wrought by the daughters of a duke ; yet it is a 
sweet and honourable token of their love. I have written to 
tell them whither the object of their love is gone. . . . Our 
little boy ! thou art incorporated with my memory dearly, with 
my hope thou art incorporated still more dearly. "We will 
come, when our Lord doth call, to thee and to the general 
assembly of the first-born. Oh, Isabella, I exhort thee to be 
diligent in thy prayers for thee and me ! 

" Friday, 11th November. — I have just dismissed Mrs Hall, 
my dear Isabella, to set into the study to-morrow morning a 
slice of bread and glass of water, purposing to keep myself 
alone for meditation, and I pray the Lord that he would give 

us both a heart full of divine thoughts and holy purposes 

Mr Hamilton is a great comfort to me ; I may say of him, as 
Paul says of Mark, that he is helpful to me for the ministry, 



156 LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION. 

literally delivering me of all secular cares. But I must proceed 

in order. When we were at our morning worship, Mr 

slipped in, with his slow and canny foot, in order to seek 
introductions to Scotland, which I would not give ; for though 
I am enough satisfied with him for the rule of charity, I have 
no sufficient evidence upon which to commend him to another. 
Indeed I would be suspicious of his favour- seeking and power- 
hunting, if I were not satisfied it is universal, and that he may 
have caught it by infection, not generated it in his own con- 
stitution ; but, ah, it is a weakening disease, however caught ! 
"When I had dismissed, I read the 3rd chapter of John in the 
original, and studied the latter half of the 3rd chapter of the 
Hebrews with a diligent reference to the parallel scriptures; 
and in studying that chapter it will help you to know that 
' even as Moses in all his house' is not to be understood Moses* 
but God's house, the house of ' Him who appointed him,' as 
you will see by referring to the passage in Numbers, of which it 
is the quotation ; the whole argument being to set Moses forth, 
not as having a house of his own, but as a servant in the house 
which Christ had ordered, and to which, in due time, He came 
as the heir to claim and inherit His own. That idea of the 
Church, under the similitude of a house, is constant in the New 
Testament, derived, I take it, from the temple, which was a 
type of the Church ; and I have no doubt that 'In my Father's 
house are many mansions,' means the Church in which he 
prepared a place for his apostles, by sending to them His Holy 
Spirit ; so that thenceforth they became its foundation-stones. 
' We are made partakers with Christ if we hold fast the begin- 
ning of our confidence steadfast unto the end,' refers to Christ's 
coming in the end to occupy His house, when all His people 
shall share with Him in His kingdom ; which He himself sets 
forth by the same similitude of a householder who went into a 
far country, and in the meantime gave his servants their 
several charges. We are these servants ; let us be found faith- 
ful, and when He comes we shall be made partakers or sharers 
with Him. After these studies in divinity, I relieved my mind 
by reading a portion of the Convocation book which treated of 
our Lord's respect to those who sat in Moses' seat, present- 
ing this feature of His obedience in very meek and true colours. 
Oh, how I have offended herein, making myself a judge instead 
of a minister of the Church ! and yet I know not how other- 
wise to proceed when all things are manifestly so out of square. 
I do pray earnestly that the Lord would keep me manly in 
the regulation of the censorious part of my spirit. For I have 
this day, and immediately after the perusal of the above, 



POWER OF A HOLY. WALK AND CONVERSATION. 157 

written a lecture upon the simple and unprovided faith in which 
our Lord made His rounds of the ministry ; arguing thence 
the spirit in which His ministers should stand affected towards 
the provisions of this life, and should receive them ; wherein I 
have not scrupled to declare the whole counsel of Grod ; but I 
know not whether in the right spirit. 

" This also has occupied me since dinner up to the time of 
evening prayer, when the Lord opened my mouth to speak of 
His love to our souls, so that I could see the tears gather in the 
eyes of my little company. I do hope there is a work of Divine 

grace proceeding in these servants' hearts Oh, Isabella, I 

have a strong persuasion of the power of a holy walk and con- 
versation, in which, if we continue, we shall save not only our 
own souls, but the souls of those that hear us ; even now there 
is a strong conviction of that truth brought home to my spirit. 
For yourself, dear, when you are in darkness and distress, then 
do not fret, but clothe your spirit in sackcloth, and sit down 
and take counsel with your soul before the Lord, and study all 
its deformity, and search into the hidden recesses of its unbelief. 
It is a rich lesson for humility ; it is a season of sowing seed in 
tears. The Lord permitteth such temptations that we may the 
more thoroughly see our depravity ; and in the midst of our 
seasons of brightness they come like clouds threatening a deluge, 
which the rainbow covenant averts from the soul of Grod's chosen 

ones My dearest, we must soon go to our rest, and our 

sweet infant also ; and perhaps the Lord may not see us worthy 
to leave any seed on the earth. His will be done. I pray only 
to be conformed to His will. Now rest in peace, my other 
part, and thou, sweet link of being betwixt us ! The Lord make 
our souls one ! And may He bless with the inheritance of our 
domestic blessings, spiritual and temporal, our faithful servant, 
who has joined herself to our house. Fare you all well. The 
Lord compose your souls to sweet and quiet sleep. 

" Saturday, 12th November. — ... I am left to my sweet oc- 
cupation of making my dear Isabella a sharer of the actions of 
my life and the secrets of my heart ; would that they were more 
valuable for thy sake, my dearest love ! This day was devoted 
to pious offices connected with the memory of our dear boy, 
that it might be made profitable to the living. But I found not 
the satisfaction which I expected. I began by reading the 15th 
chapter of 1 Corinthians in the original, hoping to be somewhat 
raised in my thoughts ; but whether I fell away into the criti- 
cism and scholia, from the old Greek fathers, which are in my 
noble Greek Testament, I know not ; but I think I missed the 
edification of the spirit ; Satan is never absent from us ; he can 



158 THE TWELFTH DAY OF THE MONTH. 

slay as effectually from the letter of God's word, as from the 
lightest and vainest pleasures of the world. After which I 
studied the funeral service of the Church, in which office I found 
some movements of the spirit which I sought. Then I girt my- 
self to my duties, and wrote, first, a letter to my father's house, 
exhorting them against formality, and testifying to them the 

nature of a spiritual conversation ; then I wrote to M , 

manifesting, according to my ability, the evils of self-communion 
and self-will, and the blessings of communion with the Father 
and with His Son Jesus Christ. I know not how it may be 
felt by her, but if she should speak of it, assure her it was done 
faithfully and in love. . . . Thereafter I addressed myself to 

some reading in my Convocation book and Roman history 

Since tea, I have been busy preparing my discourses, and I do 
pray that He would bless them. I had much liberty in exhort- 
ing my little evening congregation and opening to them the 
comfortable doctrine of the Divine Providence, and in praying 
for our souls, and the souls of all men ; and now, dearest, twelve 
o'clock hath rung in my ears, and having exhorted the household 
to timeous hours on the Sabbath morning, I must not be slack 
to give the example ; and that I may leave room for to-morrow's 
work, which I trust will be holy and blessed, I part from you 
with few words, praying the Lord to have you all in His holy 
keeping. But let me not forget that this day, which I have im- 
proved to others, I ought of all to improve the most carefully 
to Edward's mother. Every twelfth day of the month, my loving 
and beloved wife, let it be your first thought that your babe is 
mortal, and that the father of your babe is mortal, and that you 
yourself are mortal! and every twelfth day of the month, my 
loving and beloved wife, let it be your last thought that your 
babe is mortal, and that the father of your babe is mortal, and 
that you yourself are mortal. Do this that you may swallow 
up our mortality in the glorious faith of our immortality in the 
heavens. Earewell, my wife. Dwell for ever with the Lord, 
my sister saint in Christ ; dwell for ever with the Lord, my 
tender babe, and be blessed of Him, as He was wont to bless 
such as thee. I pray the Lord to bless all with whom you dwell, 
thou daughter of Abraham and heir of the promise ! 

"Sabbath, Y&th November.— -My dear Isabella, I have finished 
the labours of another Sabbath, with much of the presence of 
the Lord in the former part of the day, and not so much in the 
evening. There must have been some want of faith either in 
the writing or delivery of my discourse, and I have besought 
the Lord that he would preserve me during this week in a spirit- 
ual frame of mind, and move within my soul right thoughts 



PRESENTIMENTS. 159 

and feelings for the salvation of my people ; and I desire that 
you would ever on a Sabbath morning pray the Lord to preserve 
my soul in a spirit of faith and love all the day, and in the even- 
ing pray that He would direct my mind to such subjects of 

meditation and methods of handling them as He will bless 

I have been much exercised this last week with the possibility 
of some trial coming to me from the resolute stand which I have 
taken, and will maintain, npon the subject of the liberty of my 
ministry. For the spirit of authority and rule in the church 
begins to grow upon me, and I fear much there is not enough 
of the spirit of obedience in our city churches to bear it. But 
I am resolved, according as I am taught the duty of a minister 
of the Grospel, to discharge it, and consider everything that may 
befall as the will of the Lord. I was telling this to Mr Din- 
widdie this morning, for I find, good men, they have all their 
little schemes, after which they would like to see me play my 
part, instead of looking to me as one, under Christ's authority, 
to watch over the church, and to be honoured of the church. 
The church was crowded both morning and evening ; but I am 
prepared, if the Lord should see it meet to try me here also, 
and I sometimes think I shall be tried here at some time or 
other. Now, my notion is, that the Lord is very gracious to me 
at present, permitting me to be strengthened ; that then Satan 
will have power against me for a season by every form of trial 
— and, alas ! there are too many open rivets in my armour ; — 
but that in the end the Lord, if I abide faithful, will increase 

me with much honour I thank Grod that I am very strong : 

and even now (ten o'clock) sleep begins to loose the curtains of 

my conception, and twilight is settling in my mind 

And now, dearest, I commend you and our little one unto the 
Lord, and pray that the Lord may bless you and preserve you 
for a blessing to these eyes. 

" Monday, \Mh November. — My dear wife, this has been a 
day sweetly varied with the good mercies of God, who in vari- 
ous ways hath used His servant to minister unto the comfort of 
His people, which I shall now set forth to you in order, being 
full of gladness and thankfulness. In the morning we had the 
Psalm of our Lord's humiliations (lxix.), and the chapter of 
Job's most pathetic lamentation and divine confidence in his 
Redeemer (xix.), upon which I have been able to reflect more 
during the day by what I have seen, than I was able to reflect 
unto my family, though I sought for words of exhortation. We 

were, besides our own, Mr J , a friend introduced by Pears ; 

Rev. Mr Cox, of the Church of England, a calm, pious, and 
charitable man, whom I met at Brighton ; and Sottomayor, the 



160 TRUE BROTHERHOOD. 

soldier. . I had to withstand the radicalism and village-town con- 
ceit of the first, who cut all questions with a keen blade of self- 
conceit, but neither of wit nor understanding, in which I was 
greatly assisted by the wisdom of Mr Cox, who, having travelled, 
was able to speak with authority ; and he delighted me with 
one declaration, that in the Catholic churches of Italy he had 
never heard a sermon (though he had heard many) which 
breathed of saints' days and other mummeries, but always of 
solid theology, deep piety, and much unction, and that he had 
met with many whom he believed most spiritual. My dear, I 
have often more concern about the issue of the intellectual forms 
of our own Church, which tend to practical and theoretical in- 
fidelity, than of the sensual forms of the Romish Church, which 
do tend to superstition, and still preserve a faith, though it be 
of the sense. Anyway, I give Grod praise that either with us 
or with them He preservetb a seed. When they departed, poor 
Sarah Evans came to me, troubled in her conscience, poor girl, 
that she had not confessed to me all her sins ; and she was about 
to open all her history in time past, when I interrupted her, 
and would not allow her to proceed. Poor thing ! I pity much 
her wandering mind, still timorous and startled like one that 
had been lost, and not sure of having found the way. I think 
I must consult the elders about her. It is a hard case ; she is 
truly spiritual, but has a certain instability and nutter in her 
judgment. . . . After her came a poor woman, the sister of Mr 
M'W (formerly of Dumfriesshire), who has been a prodi- 
gal for the last twenty-one years in a far distant land of the 
West Indies, having followed into dissipation a dissipated hus- 
band, buried ten children, left one, and now returned in forma 
pauperis, — left upon the shore by the good Samaritan, who pro- 
vided her in a fortnight's lodging, expecting that in that time 
her brother, to whom he wrote, would be eager to relieve her. 
But her brother seems more ashamed of her than sorry for her, 
and dreads her return to Scotland, and had written a letter, 
entreating me to get her into an hospital, which I found on my 
arrival. I liked its spirit ill, even before I had seen her, and 
wrote that I would not recommend to any hospital the sister 
of a Scotch clergyman in good circumstances, except she should 
be wholly abandoned. Still he writes me, inclining to the finding 
an asylum for her in London, and wishing me to see her, which 
this day I appointed by letter, for she lives all the way at Shad- 
well, and is disabled of her side by a palsy. And she came, — 
a poor picture of the prodigal, humbled and penitent, and long- 
ing for her brother's bosom as ever the prodigal did for his , 
father's. ' I should never be off my knees, I think, if I could 



UNDIRECTED LETTERS. 161 

but see John, and partake of his prayers and counsels ; the 
Lord would bring peace to my soul.' And she wept ; and she 
very sorely wept when I read her parts of her brother's letter, 
but confessed to her past sinfulness ; and before she went away 
her last words were, with many tears, ' And tell him 1 am an 
altered woman.' .... So I sat down and wrote for the widow, 
and rebuked my brother sharply, and told him he ought to make 
for her a room around his fireside. What may be the issue I 
know not ; but my part, Grod helping me, is to help the prodi- 
gal widow 

" Then I went forth to visit Mrs P , as I set down in 

my letter ; but be thankful that letter went not to the Dead 
Office, for giving a glance to the object of my affections, whose 
name I thought fairly inscribed, I found that it was fairly blank, 
and had to get pen and ink at the receiving-house. James 

P (who is very great in the highest mathematics, and reads 

La Place's Calculus of Generating Functions which that great- 
est of calculators has applied to probabilities) immediately told 
me that La Place observed, to show how constant causes are, 
that the number of such undirected letters put into the Paris 
post-office was year by year, as nearly as possible, the same. 
"When I went up to Mr P 's shop I found his sister stand- 
ing in it, and she took me up to her mother's sick-room, saying 
little or nothing by the way. And her mother took me by the 
hand, and said, 'The Lord hath sent you this day, for my 
Andrew is cast into prison.' .... Andrew, you must know, is 
betrothed to a young lady whom he has been the instrument 
of converting to the Lord, and when he left S 's, being un- 
resolved what to do with his little capital, which could not meet 
his present business, his betrothed' s uncle said, ' Gret your 
bills discounted, and you shall not want for money ;' for they 
had always said that he was to have £500 on the wedding day, 
and £500 afterwards. To this the servant of the Lord trust- 
ing, sunk his money in his lease, trusting to have his floating 
bills met by his friend, who, growing cool because Andrew did 
not instantly succeed, withdraws his promises, and leaves our 
friend in deep waters ; and deals with his niece to send poor 
Andrew all his letters, and to request hers in return. This 
took place on Friday, and this day, at breakfast, two of the 
officers of justice, at the instance of a creditor, came, and he 
went with them. Thus was his mother left, and thus I found 
her all but overcome. I comforted her as I could, and prayed 
with her as I could, and saw that something was to be done as 
well as said. So coming down, I sat down to write in the back 
shop, while his sister sought some clue to the creditor's address, 

11 



162 A LONDON SPONGING-HOUSE. 

that I might find the prison. .... So I proceeded by Cary 
Street, and, after diligent search, found Andrew in a house of 
which the door is kept always locked, seated with three men 
who seemed doleful enough — one resting his forehead on his 
hands, another reclining on a sofa, and the third contemplating, 
half miserably, half sottishly, a pint of porter. Andrew was 
close by the chimney corner. "We communed together, and 
he was as calm aud cheerful as Joseph, having Joseph's trust ; 
and of a truth, yesterday, he seemed to his own household lifted 
above himself. And he had tasted my evening discourse upon 
the minister's wayfaring, raven-brood life to be very good. And 
it is marvellous, we concluded our service with the 34 — 37 verses 
of the 37th Psalm, — as if the Lord would encourage me with 
respect to that service of which I desponded to you last night. 
While I talked with dear Andrew, not knowing but the others 
were the watchful officers of justice, he upon the sofa struck 
his forehead and started to his feet with a maniac air, crying, 
1 Oh God, the horrors are coming upon me ! ' and wildly, very 
wildly, strode through the room ; so that I was standing to my 
arms, lest he might be moved of Satan against me for the words 
which I was speaking to Andrew. And he with his hand upon 
his head wept, and the other man would comfort with ' patience ' 
— ' philosophy.' But the wounded man continued to burst 
out, and stride on, and beat his forehead. Whence we gathered 
that he had been there for a whole month, daily expecting re- 
leasement, but none came, every message worse than another ; 
and ever and anon he spoke of his wife. Then, when his fit 
was over, in which he talked of people putting an end to them- 
selves, and of the fits of horror which broke his sleep, I ad- 
dressed words of comfort to him, and prevailed to soothe him ; 
so that, when I came away, he said, ' It were well for us to re- 
ceive many such visits, Sir.' But I must break off" — the night 
wears very late, and I am getting too much moved. The Lord 
bless, for the night, my loving and beloved wife, and the Lord 
bless our baptized babe — our little daughter of the Lord ! 

" Tuesday, 15th. — Andrew, who realized to me the idea of 
Joseph in prison, had come away in great haste, and omitted 
to take his Bible with him, which I supplied with my far- 
travelled and dear companion, now bound firmly as at the first. 
Those storms which I encountered upon the Yarrow mountains 
melted the cover of my writing-desk, and firmly bound the loose 
back of my Bible. Leaving Andrew, I proceeded to my en- 
gagement at six o'clock in Fleet Market, which was to visit 

Miss M , and her brother and sister, who live with her. 

Their father dead, their mother in Essex, and two married 



FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE. 163 

brothers in town, so estranged from her by selfishness and 
worldliness, that ' if five shillings would save me from death, I 
hardly think I could muster it amongst all my relations.' Oh, 
what a blessing to Scotland are her family ties ! Families here 
are only associations under one roof for a few years, to issue in 
alienation and estrangement : I am grieved at my heart to wit- 
ness it. But she abides strong in the Lord Her brother 

gave wonderful ear to me. My words entered deep, for he 
w r ept almost continually, and was much overpowered ; and I do 
trust in the Lord that the lad may be brought to a more obedi- 
ent and loving spirit towards his sister. Having finished a very 
sweet visitation, to which there came in an old woman, and a 
boy about to proceed to North America, whom I also exhorted, 
I hastened to Mrs P -'s, in order to set her mind, and espe- 
cially her imagination, at rest, which would be conjuring a 
thousand ideal frights about a prison. Which having done with 
much consolation to my own spirit, I called as I passed at Bed- 
ford Square to see if anything had happened untoward, but 

found that all was well Mr Scoresby was still sitting, 

and after I had taken a cup of tea, we came on our ways to- 
gether, enjoying much delightful discourse. The Lord is open- 
ing his mind wonderfully to the right apprehension of the min- 
isterial office. I arrived not at home till about ten o'clock, and 
assembled the family for worship ; and after writing the above, 
I went to bed and dreamt a dream of sweet thoughts — that I 
was sitting at Jesus's feet and learning the way to discharge 
my office, having only six days to hear from the Divine In- 
structor, at which time He was to remove from the earth. 

" I was much refreshed by the sweet thoughts of the night, 
and arose very cheerful : and while the family was at worship, 
Mr Scoresby and Mr Hamilton came in, whom I had invited 
on purpose to meet one another. Our morning was passed in 
sweet discourse, and afterwards I opened to Mr Scoresby, in my 
own study, many of my views concerning the Church : into some 
he could enter, and into others not. But he is growing richly 
in divine knowledge, and I praise the Lord for his sake. We 
prayed together before he went away, and I invited him when 
he came back to make his home with us Then I ad- 
dressed myself to my discourse on the bondage of law, and hav- 
ing wrought that vein till I was wearied, I betook myself to the 
correcting of another proof, and had gone over it once, and was 
about concluding the second reading, when a letter from Wm 
Hamilton announced -that Mr David was much worse, and a 
few hours might terminate his life. Thereupon I left all, and 
proceeded to the house of death. On my way I met Mr Simon 



164 DOMESTIC WORSHIP. 

proceeding to Bath in order to build up certain churches there 
who have besought his presence. We commended each other 
to the Lord, and took our several ways. I found Mr David 
still living, and some faint hopes of amendment ; but I am pre- 
pared for the voorst, which I doubt not is the lest I wrote 

a letter to "Willie, who is at Norwich at school, opening the af- 
flicting intelligence to him as best I could I returned 

in time to get my proof-sheet finished for the post ; since which 
I have been labouring up the hill with my lecture upon the pious 
women who ministered unto Christ ; when, at nine o'clock, a 
lady came in to enjoy the privilege of our prayers. At the 
church on Wednesday evening a sorrowful lady asked me if it 
was true that I read prayers at my own house and permitted 
people to come. I said, at family worship I delight to comfort 
and encourage the hearts of all who are present, and if you come 
on a spiritual errand you shall be welcome. So this night she 
came, and hath opened to me her sorrows. Three months ago 
she lost her only boy, after three years' illness, during which 
she watched him continually ; and now she is alone in the world, 
with a memory haunted and a heart stunned and broken, know- 
ing little of the spiritual, and dwelling much in the imagination. 
His sufferings had been extreme, and his death frightful ; and 
his poor mother, not more than your years, is now alone in this 

great city, which to her is a great desert Her husband 

was a Sicilian, and died before the boy was born She 

wanted to know if she would know her son in heaven. I could 
have wept for her, but I saw she needed another treatment, 
and therefore rebuked, but with kindness, her imaginations, and 
showed her the way to the spiritual world, whither I pray the 

Lord to lead her The Lord enable me to direct her in 

the way of peace Thus another day has passed with its 

various incidents and various blessings. I have been oft in it 
enjoying near communion with God, and oft I have been cold and 
lifeless. When shall I be wholly with the Lord ? I do desire 

His abiding presence — the light of His countenance Now 

may the Lord be the canopy over your head, and over the head 
of the babe, this night, and over mine, enveloping us in the ever- 
lasting arms ! 

" Wednesday, 16th November. — Our dear, dear friend is no 
more. He departed about five o'clock, in exactly that frame 
of spirit which, above all others, I would wish to die myself 

in In the five weeks of his sore affliction his robust 

and zealous spirit has had the meekness of a little child, and 
as a little child he was taught of the Spirit in a wonderful 
way The propitiation of Christ and his own un- 



A DEATH-BED. 165 

worthiness were his chief meditations, and continued so to 
the last. During that time a worldly care has not crossed 
his lips. His soul has been full of love to all, and of great, 
great affection to me. I know not that I have one left who 
loved me as he did. .... He accompanied me to the ship, 
with Mr Hamilton, when I came to see you and little 
Edward ; now he is gone in London, and Edward lies in his 
cold grave in Scotland; and I am left, and you are left, 
whom I feared lest I should lose ; and left we are, dearest, 
to bear fruit unto Grod, and fruit we will bear unto God, 
being cleansed by the word of Christ, and supported by the 
juices and nourishment of the Yine, and dressed by the hands 
of our heavenly Father. Let us watch and exhort one 
another, as I now do you, my dearest wife, to much frequent 
private communion with Grod. This was what our friend 
had resolved to apply himself to with more diligence than 
ever if it had been the will of the Eather to spare him. 
About three o'clock, I received a message from ¥m Hamilton 
that he was fast fading away, and had expressed a wish to 
see me. I had proposed going about two hours after ; these 
two hours would have lost me the sweetest parting in my 
life — my child first born unto Christ, at least who is known 
to me. I found him far gone in breathlessness, but lively in 
hearing, quick in understanding, and full of the Spirit of life. 
He stretched out his hand to me ; his other was stretched to 
his wife, on the other side of the bed. ... I prayed with 
him, and afterwards continued, at intervals, to supply his 
thoughts with pregnant scriptures. I repeated to him the 
23rd Psalm, in which he was wont to have such delight. 
This revived him very much, and he uttered several things 
with a grave, full, deep voice, interrupted by his want of 
breath. ' My whole hope, trust, and dependence is in the 
mercy of Grod, who sent His Son to save the meanest.' .... 
I saw death close at hand, and drew near and took his hand. 
His breathing deepened, and became more like distinct gasps. 
And it failed, and failed, until his lungs did their office no 
more, and he died without a struggle of a limb, or the dis- 
composure of a muscle — his mouth open as it had drawn its 
last breath — his eye fixed still on me ; and we stood silent, 
silent around him. Then Mr Bedome closed his eyelids. I 
know not why they do so. I loved to look on Edward's. 
Dear, lovely corpse of Edward, what a sweet tabernacle was 
that over which thy mother and I wept so sadly ! My much- 
beloved child, my much-cherished, much-beloved child, dwell 
in the mercies of my Grod, and the Grod of thy mother ! "We 



166 THE THEOLOGY OF MEDICINE. 

will follow thee betimes, God strengthening us for the 
journey. I had still an hour to sit with Mrs David, and to 
write sweet William and his grandfather. She was comforted, 
and I left her tranquil. Mr Hamilton, who is much affected, 
was seated below, in the dining-room, and we came to the 
church together, when I discoursed from the 24th and 25th 
verses of the 14th chapter of John, and made known to them 
the good intelligence that our brother had had a good voyage 
so far as we could follow him, or hear tidings from him. 
Every one seemed deeply affected, and all whom I talked 

with were sensibly rejoiced Thus another of my flock 

has gone to the Chief Shepherd. . . . Andrew P brought 

me up my Bible, having been delivered last night, and giving 
thanks unto Grod. I love him much ; his mother, also, is 
better. So .that the Lord hath shined from behind the cloud, 

James P is a very sweet companion. Hall is 

still weakly. The rest are well. I fight a hard fight, but let 
me never forsake private communion, or I perish. The Lord 
bless you and our dear babe. I wish I were refreshed with 
a sight of you both. 

" Thursday, two o'clock. — I have had such a conversation 
with one of my congregation, a medical man, upon the sub- 
ject of what I would call ' the theology of medicine,' as made 
me sorry you were not present to hear it. But in good time, 
when you are restored to me, you shall hear him often ; for 
he is both a gentleman, a man of science — the true science 
of nature, and a Christian. He discoursed upon infants, 
and the treatment of infants, so well and wisely,, that I could 
not let this letter go without noting to you one or two 
things.*. . . 

" Thursday, 17 th Nov. — My dear Isabella, nothing is of 
such importance as to have a distinct view of the end of all 
our labours under the sun — our studies, our conversations, 
our cares, our desires, and whatever else constitutes our 
being. Por though many of these seem to come by hazard, 
without any end in view, believe me, my dear, that every 
habit arose out of an end, either of our own good or some 
other good desirable in our eyes ; and that the several acts 
contained under that label go to strengthen that end which 
it carried with it from the beginning. Now, dearest, our 
one, only end should be the glory of Glod, and our one, only 

* Here follows a minute record of the advice he had just received, re- 
ported with the most grave and anxious particularity, but concluding thus : 
" To these rules give no more confidence than seems to your own mind good, 
and put your trust in the providence and blessing of Almighty God." 



THE GLORY OF GOD. 167 

way of attaining that end by the fulfilment of His will ; and 
the only means of knowing that will is by the faith of His 
word; and the only strength for possessing it is the love, 
desire, and joy which are begotten in us by the Holy Ghost. 
Therefore be careful, my dear sister in Christ, to occupy 
your thoughts and cares with some form of the divine revela- 
tion, and to have before the eye of your faith some divine 
end, present or distant, — yea, both present and distant; and 
then shall you have communion with the Father and with 
his Son Jesus Christ from morning to evening. This at- 
tempt, this succeed in, not by the force of natural will, which 
will make such a hirpling, hobbling gait of it, but by the 
practical redemption of your Saviour, which will by degrees 
clear you of the former slough, and feather your callow 
nakedness, and give you wings with which to mount up into 
the exalted region of life. Have ever in view the glory of 
G-od, and ever seek help to it by prayer, and the Lord him- 
self will lead you into the way. These thoughts occurred to 
me as I came home from Bedford Square, where I took 
dinner with our dear friends, and I resolved I would write 
them for your sake. I spent the morning in study upon the 
help which women may afford and have afforded in the 
Church, and have brought my lecture nearly to a close ; so 
that I have to-morrow and next day for the great theme of 
legal bondage on which I have entered. I would, and earn- 
estly pray that I might, keep my thoughts during study 
intent upon the glory of God and the promotion of Christ's 
kingdom. And it were not dutiful if I did not acknowledge 
that the Lord is bringing me into a region of nearer com- 
munion. But I cannot tell what huskiness there is about 
my heart, and in my discourse what seeking after intellectual 
or imaginary forms. Oh, that I could feel the very truth, 
and rejoice with the free joy of its inheritance ! During my 
study, Dr Wilkins came in, and discoursed to me for about 
an hour with a simplicity and beauty which ravished me. If 
he do not prove visionary upon further acquaintance — if his 
practical understanding be perfectly sound, then he is the 
greatest accession to my acquaintance since I became ac- 
quainted with Mr Frere, and will prove to me, in all that 
respects the chemistry of the bodily constitution, what other 
leaders have been to me in respect to the mental and the 
spiritual. The Lord hath showed me such marvellous kind- 
ness, in respect of teachers, that I cannot enough praise 
Him. . . . The object of his discourse was to prove that 
nature had no tendency to any disease, but wholly the 



168 THE SPIRIT OF A MAN. 

reverse ; and that, were it not onr ignorance and perversity, 
we would come to our full age, and drop into the grave as a 
shock of corn in its season ; and he began his demonstration 
from the condition of the child. . . . There was much more 
he had to discourse of, but I told him I had enough for the 
present, and would hear him another time. He is a man of 
fine manners and a sweet nature, — of continued acknowledg- 
ment of Grod and blame of man Now, dearest, I have 

put all this down for your sake, that you might meditate 
upon it, and make the use of it which you judge best. The 
man you will like exceedingly, that I know full well, because 
we are of one spirit now, or fast growing into one spirit — 

praised be the mercy of our God The Lord be gracious 

to you and all the house. I pray for you and baby, I oft 
think, with more earnestness than for myself, which is senti- 
ment, and not faith. The Lord edify us in one most holy 
faith; and Mary also, whose salvation I earnestly desire. 
Amen. 

" Friday, 18th. — My dear Isabella, there is no point of 
wisdom, human or divine, so carefully to be attended to, for 
one's own good, or for the knowledge and good of others, as 
the spirit which men are of. For the spirit draws after it 
the understanding, and determines the views which men 
take of every subject, in the world of sight or in the world 
of faith. Some people remain under the spirit of their minds, 
and become intensely selfish. But the social principle leads 
the several spirits to congregate together for mutual defence 
and encouragement. First of all, there is the Holy Spirit, 
whose communion constitutes the true Church of Christ, and 
you may be sure their opinions will be orthodox doctrine, 
charitable sentiment, sweet, patient temper, and, in short, 
transcripts of Christ Jesus our Lord. Then there is the 
worldly spirit, which is one in respect of its opposition to 
the former, and intolerance of all its opinions ; but in respect 
to itself, is divided into many, its name being Legion. Of 
these I find to prevail at present the following : — 1st, Around 
you in Scotland there is the spirit of the human understand- 
ing, of which scepticism of all things that cannot be expressed 
with logical precision is the characteristic, and an utter ab- 
horrence of all mystery ; whereas, as you know, to the holy 
spirit of simplicity everything is a mystery unfolding itself 
more and more. There is also the spirit of self-sufficiency, 
which characterizes our countrymen above measure. "With 
us we have the spirit of expediency, which calculates what it 
can foresee, and accounts all beyond to be void and unreclaimed 



TRY THE SPIRITS. 169 

chaos ; it is utterly fruitless of any principle self- directing 
in the human soul, and would make man wholly under the 
influence of outward things. Of this class Owen is the fool. 
About the universities of England is the spirit of antiquity, 
which prizes what is recondite and diflicult of discovery, and 
runs out into Egyptian expeditions to the pyramids and the 
tombs. And amongst the common people there is, in direct 
opposition to this, the spirit of radicalism, which hath no 
reverence for antiquity, or indeed for anything but its own 
projections. In the Church here there is the spirit of form- 
ality, which often ascends into very high regions of beauty 
and comeliness, but wants the living, acting, confirming prin- 
ciple — is but an Apollo Belvedere or a Venus de' Medici 
after all, — not a living, acting, self-directing principle. I 
have not time nor strength to open the subject philosophic- 
ally, but I have said enough to lead your meditations to it, 
which is all that I desire. Eor observe you, my dear, that if 
you be of the right spirit, all things will right themselves in 
the eyesight of your mind. Hence the Holy Spirit is called 
also the spirit of truth. We do not get right by conning our 
opinions back over again, but we change our opinions, as we 
do our dress, from a change in our spirit. Therefore these 
are often not hypocrites, but rash men, who are seen so sud- 
denly to change their sides. And true conversion draws 
with it an alteration of all our opinions ; and conversion is 
properly defined as a change of spirit. How often do people 
say, It was all true he said, but spoken in a bad spirit. Now, 
if you wish to be right, seek communion with the Holy Spirit ; 
and if you wish to know whom you ought to listen to, by 
w T hat manner of spirit he is of, try the spirits whether they 
be of God. Milton could not say, Jesus is the Son of God, 
because he would not yield to the Holy Spirit, but preferred 
the spirit of radicalism ; and as no one can know the Father 
but he to whom the Son revealeth Him, so no one knoweth 
the Son but he to whom the Spirit revealeth Him. And 
what is meant by having right opinions, or being wise, but 
to know the Son who is truth ? And much more remains, 
which I may perhaps write hereafter. 

" I gave God thanks for your letter, and for the answer 
of my prayers that you continued to stand fast in the Lord. 
With respect to your journey, you will easily reach Dumfries 
by posting it ; and I think you ought to take the road by 
Biggar, Thornhill, and the Nith, as being the more pleasant, 
and I think, if anything, the more sheltered of the two ; 
although, in that respect, both are bleak enough ; . . . from 



170 A BENEDICTION TO THE ABSENT. 

Annan you had better take the way by Newcastle, and thence 
to Mr Bell's, of Boswell, which I understand to be within 
seven miles of York, and I would meet you there. . . . From 
Annan you will bring me two or three pairs of a shoe of a 
passing good form for my foot. Nothing has occurred to 
me to-day worth mentioning. I have enjoyed the presence 

of God beyond my deservings. I preached to Mr N 's 

people, and recognize in them improvement as I hope ; much 
in him. There was one idea which occurred to me worth 
writing. How vain is it for man to trust in Grod's mercy, 
when His own Son, though He cried hard for it, could find 
none, but had to drink the cup of justice ! I am weary. The 
Lord be with you all ! 

" Saturday, 12th November. — I am so fatigued, dear Isa- 
bella, that I dare not venture to write ; but will not retire 
to rest without inserting, upon this record of my dearest 
thoughts, a husband's and a father's blessing upon his dear 
wife and child. 

" Sabbath, 20th November. — I have reason this night again 
to bless the Lord for His goodness to His unworthy servant, 
for I have been much supported, and have had great liberty 
given me to wrestle with the souls of the people ; but I want 
much the grace of wrestling with the Lord for their sake. 
I feel daily drawn, like the prophet Daniel, to some great 
and continued act of humiliation and earnest supplication 
for the Church, but Satan hindereth me. And yet I doubt 
not the Lord will work in me this victory, and that by your 
help I shall yet be able to wait upon the Lord night and day, 
and to weep between the affcar and tabernacle for the souls 
of the people. Indeed, I have already planned that when 
the Lord restores you to my sight (in spirit we are never 
parted), we shall pass an hour of every day, from four till 
five, in our own room, with no presence but the presence of 
Grod, which we will earnestly entreat : and we will rest from 
our great labours that hour, and meditate of our everlasting 
rest. Before entering upon this day's labours, I will look 
back upon yesterday, that you may be informed of one or 
two things which will be pleasant to your ear. The death of 
our friend David hath wrought wonderfully for good with us 
all, so that men busy with the world have wept like children ; 
and all have, I think, had the spiritual seasoning intermingled 
with the natural feeling. It wrought upon me in the way of 
greater earnestness of spiritual communion ; and I think 
yesterday morning, in the visions of the night, I was con- 
scious of the sweetest enjoyments of the soul I ever knew. 



SUNDAY. 171 

There was no vision presented to my sight in my dream, but 
there was a sense of deeper meaning and clearer understand- 
ing given to our Lord's parting discourse, which filled me 
with a spiritual delight ; a light of spiritual glory that was 
unspeakably mild and delightful. I awoke full of thanks- 
giving and praise, and bowed myself upon my bed, and gave 
thanks, and arose to my labours. I break off for worship. 
The Lord be in the midst of us ! 

" In reading the last half of the 16th chapter of John, I 
was struck with the 23rd and 24th verses, which show' us 
why the Lord's prayer was not concluded in Christ's name 
— because he was not Intercessor and High Priest till after 
His death. He was perfected, that is, consecrated (for the 
word for consecration was then perfecting), by sufferings. 
In the days of His flesh He had no mediatorial power, but 
was conquering it to Himself and His Church ; and there- 
fore He called upon them to rejoice that He was to go away. 
Now to return. All the day long I continued in study, with 
walks in the garden and relaxations of history, until after 

two o'clock, when I bore Mr P company to Bedford 

Square Thence I proceeded to the house of affliction. 

Now I come to the labours, the blessed labours, of 

the Sabbath. This morning I awoke at six, but was too 
weary to rise till eight ; and having gone over my sermon, 
with my pen in my hand, to bring it to very truth as nearly 
as I know it, I went to church with Mr Dinwiddie, who en- 
ters cordially with, me into prayer, and is desirous of a more 
spiritual discourse than when you used to walk with him. 
After psalms and prayer, in which I had no small communion, 

we perused the 4th of Hebrews Then I commenced 

my discourse on Gral. ii. 14, upon the bondage of law, open- 
ing the whole subject of justification by faith, upon which I 
intend to discourse at large ; and I presented them first with 
a view of the dignity of the law, both outward in the state 

and inward in the soul (But it has struck 

twelve ; the Lord bless thee and the child, and rest us this 
night in the arms of His love and mercy, so as we may arise 
as to a resurrection of life against to-morrow ! Amen.) To- 
morrow is come, and I am still in the land of the living to 
praise and glorify my Creator and Redeemer ; which having 
done according to my weakness, I sit down to my pleasant 
labour, after many incidents which must form part of my 
next despatch. Then showing them the Charybdis of licen- 
tiousness upon the other side of the fair way, into which An- 
tinomians and other loose declaimers against the law did 



172 THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN. 

carry miserable souls, and where also superstition and 
Methodism did bind them in bare bondage after they had 
seduced them from the wholesome restraints of law, into 
which law they ought to have breathed the spirit of true 
obedience — I concluded by entreating their prayers that I 
might be enabled to handle this vast subject with power, 
and love, and a sound mind (which I again beseech of you 
also) 

" In the evening I was feeble in prayer, to begin with, no 
doubt from want of faith ; but the Lord strengthened me 
towards the close, otherwise I think I should not have had 

heart to go on with the service, I felt so spirit-stricken 

My lecture was upon the ministry of women in their proper 
sphere in the church, which I drew out of the Scriptures by 
authority ; and by the same authority limited and restrained 
from authority, either in word or in discipline, to the gentle 
and tender ministry of love, and devotion of goods and per- 
sonal services, which afforded me a sweet and gracious topic 
to descant upon, in defence of female liberty, and emancipa- 
tion from worldly and fashionable prudential laws and tyran- 
nies of decorum, false delicacy, and other base bondages ; all 
which I set off with the historical illustrations of woman's 
vast services, martyrdoms, shelter of the persecuted, care of 
the poor, to the seeming conviction of the people ; and con- 
cluded with a summary of a Christian woman's duties in her 
various relations ; and insisted upon them, as they were 
members of my church, to be helpful to me, or else I saw no 

prospect of any growth of communion in the midst of us 

Dearest, I have set forth many things in this letter for your 
meditation. They are seeds of thought (rather) than thoughts; 
the spirit of truth (rather) than the doctrines of truth. Think 
on these things, and meditate them much, and the Lord give 
you understanding in all things. For our babe we can do 
nothing but pray unto the Lord, and cease from anxiety, living 
in faith; and cease from anxiety ', living in faith 

"Monday, 21st November, 1825.— May the Lord of His 
great mercy fill my soul with the fulness of love to my dear 
wife ; that, as Christ loved the Church, I may love her, and 
in like manner manifest with all gracious words my unity of 
soul with her soul ; that we may be one as Thou, our Creator, 
didst intend man and woman to be from the beginning. This 
day, dearest, hath been to me a day of much and varied ac- 
tivity, which, being full of reflection and conflict, I shall re- 
count in order. After good rest, which, by the blessing of 
God, mj wearied head doth constantly enjoy, I arose about 



• 



A DREAM. 173 

eight, and, being outwardly and inwardly apparelled, I came 
down to fulfil the will of Grod, whatever it might be, and 

found Mr M , the artist, and Mr S , also an artist, of 

whom I wrote to you, as being one of my communicants, 
with whom and the family, having worshipped the God of 
our salvation, while breakfast was arranging in the other 

room by good Mrs Hall, Miss "W and another lady came 

to wait upon me, whom I went to see. The lady is a Mrs 

S , dwelling in the city, who has been much blessed by 

my ministry, and was brought to it in this wonderful way, 
as she told it me from her own lips. She had been much 
tried by a worthless husband, of whom you know there are 
so many in this tie-dissolving city ; and in the midst of her 
sorrowful nights she dreamed a dream : that she was carried 
to a church, of which the form and court, even to the trees 
which grew over the wall, were impressed upon her mind ; 
and there she heard a minister, whose form and dress, to the 
very shape of his gown, was also impressed upon her, who 
preached to her from these words : ' Blessed are ye poor, for 
yours is the kingdom of heaven.' This she communicated 
to one of her comforting friends, to whom, describing the 
gown, she answered that he must be a Scotch minister who 
was intended by the vision, for they are the only people who 
wear that kind of gown. She had already heard Dr Manuel 
and Dr Waugh, but was sure they answered not to the figure 
of the vision ; but, as she passed a window, she saw a print 
of me, and was impressed with the resemblance. Heretofore 
she had been deterred from coming near me by the crowd, 
but now she resolved some evening to come ; and, having 
taken a friend's house by the way, they strongly gainsay ed 
her purpose, and would have taken her elsewhere with them, 
and all but prevailed. This detained her beyond the hour, 
and, when she returned, our psalm and prayer were over, and 
I was naming the subject of lecture, and the first words that 
fell upon her ears were the words of her dream : ' Blessed are 
ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.' She stood in 
the midst of a crowd, hardly able to stand, and beheld and 
heard all which had been revealed to her in the visions of 
the night. ... Is not this very marvellous, dear Isabella, 
and very gracious, that the Lord should comfort His people 
by such a worm as I am ? I exhorted her to abide steadfast, 
and to come again and see me. 

" When breakfast was over, I brought Mr S with me 

into the library, whose heart, I perceived, was full of some 
matter, who told me, with an artlessness and alarm which 



174 SCEPTICS. 

showed his happy ignorance of our town infidelity, that a 
cousin of his had, in the course of religious conversation, de- 
clared his disbelief of Jesus being the son of David, and dis- 
puted the genealogies, and had maintained that in Joshua's 
time they were but poor geographers, otherwise they would 
never have alleged that the sun stood still. I was at pains 
to instruct him, and to teach him the subtle arts of the 
tempter, but he concluded by saying that it was not for him- 
self, but for his cousin, that he was concerned, and the big 
tear filled his eye when he said it. I entreated him to bring 
his cousin some night at our hour of prayer, and I would do 
my endeavour to set him right. Now I had received, this 

very morning, a letter from one, Gravin H , a poor infidel, 

craving that I would preach a discourse upon the character 
of God, which he could not understand to be both merciful 
and vindictive ; and I had received two other letters, one 
with a pamphlet, craving help of me against the infidel Tay- 
lor, who is poisoning the City at such a rate; and having 
likewise been entreated by two men to attend a meeting in 
John Street Chapel upon the subject of the District Society 
for evangelizing the Poor, I resolved to attend, though some- 
what against my intention, considering that these things, put 
together, were a sort of call of Providence. Having dismissed 

Mr S , I had communion with Mr M , whom Mr 

A had been in much fear about lately, lest he should be 

falling back, through the love of a young woman, and the 
companionship of her family, who were not spiritual. To 
this subject, introducing myself gently, modestly, and ten- 
derly, I came and spoke upon it with feeling, as having been 
in like manner tried ; — for in what way have I not been 

tempted, and alas ! overcome in all ? 

" Then, being left alone, I sought to relieve my mind by 
perusing the history of those wonderful instruments of Grod, 
the Roman people, not without prayer that the Lord would 
interpret the record of His providence to my soul. And I 
think that I was edified in it, until I had gathered strength 
to finish your letter, which Brightwell interrupted me in, to 
whom I revealed all my convictions of the spirits that were 
abroad in the world, and which were defacing the glory of 
the Church : the radical spirit among the Dissenters, the 
intellectual spirit in the Scottish Churches, the spirit of ex- 
pediency among the Evangelicals. He could not see along 
with me throughout, but he saw more than most men I con- 
verse with. Do pray that the Lord may enable me clearly to 
discern truth, and steadfastly to bear testimony to it ! It is a 



RELIGIOUS BELLES. 175 

Jesuitical spirit that is opposing Christ among the Method- 
ists. And these four spirits are so weakening the being of 
the Church, and corrupting the life which is faith, that, 
though their numbers may increase, it will still be true, 
' When the Son of Man conieth, shall He find faith on the 
earth?' .... 

" I had engaged to dine with Mr H at four o'clock. 

... I knew not that anything was waiting me there. But 
where is not the minister of the Lord wanted, in this dis- 
tressed, imprisoned, and rebellious earth ? The old man was 
ill, and they had been forced to bleed him. I went in to see 
him on his bed, and would have prayed with him, but he pro- 
fessed he was not able to hear me. Ah, Isabella, I fear for 
that old man : I greatly fear his soul is asleep, and will not 
awake. Make your prayer for him, for he also shall be re- 
quired at your husband's hand. There are two Miss E s, 

cousins of the family, come to spend the winter, who talked 
much like the young women of Edinburgh, chattering a vain 
palaver about ministers, and music, and organs, with which 
I would have nothing to do. But, after tea, I began to talk 
to them all, concerning the things of their peace, and was led 

by Mrs H 's questions to unfold the judicial blindness 

to which men are at length shut up, and to open the whole 
matter of our dependence upon the Father, which was 
mightily confirmed by the first half of the 17th chapter of 
John, which is a marvellous acknowledgment of the Father's 
sovereignty. I pray you to read it and learn humility, self- 
emptying humility, and profound nothingness in your prayers. 
They all wept, the religious belles as well as the rest ; and a 
young nephew, half-caste, about to sail for India, wept with 
a very full heart, after I had prayed with them all. I trust 
that family is growing in grace, and I fear they have long 
abidden formalists. Remember this one thing, my Isabella, 
that we who have believed are by covenant to be brought 
into the full inheritance, but according to the Lord's time 
and proportion ; but surely as He hath sworn we shall in- 
herit, therefore abide waiting, abide waiting (how long did 
He wait for us !), waiting in perfect faith of being led in. 

" I took the John Street Church by the way, and heard 
them deliberating about an expedient to meet Taylor's blas- 
phemous tract, that is soon to be published. They are very 
busy, those enemies of the Lord. He cannot bear it long. 
They are carrying the people like a stream away from God. 
But I toW them it was not by the expedient of tract-writing 
or circulating, or controversial work, but by manifestation 



176 BEST MANNER OF CONTENDING WITH INFIDELITY. 

of the truth to the conscience, that they were to prevail ; 
and that, when they found the people upon that ground, they 
should answer them with a caveat, that the matter at issue 
was not there, still giving them a reason with meekness and 
fear ; but shift the ground as fast as possible, not because 
the ground was not tenable, but because the kingdom was to 
be contended for elsewhere. That the teachers ought to as- 
semble to make themselves masters of the infidel's fence, in 
order to interpose their shield against his poisoned arrows, 
but with the other hand they should feed the poor captive, 
and nourish him into strength to fight himself. They heard 
and believed me. But I came away, entreating the Lord to 
make me a man in the breach against these sons of Belial, 
and that I was willing to die if He would spare His inherit- 
ance from these fiery flying serpents of infidel notions, which 
have fallen in upon this central congregation of Israel. Tell 
your father to be on his post, and to tell his brethren to look 
to their arms, they know not how insecure their citadel is. 
Henry Drummond was in the chair ; he is in all chairs — I 
fear for him. His words are more witty than spiritual ; his 

manner is spirituel, not grave Then I came home, 

and immediately there gathered a pleasant congregation, 
.... to whom, with my family, I addressed the word of 
exhortation, and opened the 103rd Psalm, that psalm of 
psalms, and our passage in order was Luke xiv., verse 25. 
How appropriate to these communicants, but oh, Isabella, 
how sublime! None but G-od durst have uttered such an 
abrupt apostrophe to a multitude of men ; and no multitude 
of men would have borne it but from a manifest Grod. But 
how contemptible a comparison of unresolved professors — 
savourless salt, neither good for the field of the Church nor 
for the dunghill of the world ! I pray you to consider this 
passage — it was more fertile to my soul than I have now 
strength to tell. The ladies went their ways, and left the 
two young men, with whom having conversed in the study, I 
found to be of a righteous spirit, and pressing into the king- 
dom These things rejoice me. The Lord enriches 

me with comfort. Blessed be His name ! Blessed be His 
holy name ! His thrice holy name be blessed for ever and 
ever! 

" And now, dear, I am wearied, having fulfilled many 
gracious offices, and having had a breathing of the Spirit on 
them all, and on this not less than the others, my worthy 
wife. That thou and ours, and the house where thou dwell- 
est, may be blessed of our God for ever and ever ! 



A CIRCLE OF KINSFOLK. 177 

" Tuesday, 22nd. — That subtle Cantab, with bis logic, has 
almost robbed my Isabella of her tribute of love, he has so 
exhausted me. In the morning we were alone, and I arose 
much refreshed with sleep, and, after worship and breakfast, 
addressed myself to the work of meditating the 5th chapter 
of the Hebrews in the original, which is so full of tender 
humanity. To this I added, in the garden, some reading on 
the high priest's office, in Godwin's ' Moses and Aaron.' And 
as I walked I had much elevation of soul to the heavenly 
thrones, with certain cogitations of Grod's neighbourhood to 
very holy men, so that to me it seemed not possible to say 
whether He might not still work manifest wonders by their 
hand. Not to convince them with visible demonstrations, 
for that is the Catholic solicitation for an idol ; but to work 
spiritual wonders by their means. Thereafter I set myself to 
rough-hew my discourse, of which more when it takes shape ; 
taking among hands the ' Roman history,' not without prayer 
that the Lord would open to me the mystery of his Provi- 
dence, when, for the first time, (oh, unbelief!) it occurred to 
me that I was reading the rise of the fourth great monarchy 
into whose hands Grod had given the earth. The works of 
the Lord are wonderful — sought out are they of all those 
who take pleasure therein ; so wonderful was the rise of 

Macedon and of Persia, for Babylon I have forgot 

Another letter from Henry Paul, commending a Miss M 

to me as one of the people of Grod who wished to join our 
fold. She is welcome in the Lord's name. I could not see 
her, being occupied with a little circle of kinsfolk, who were 

Peter E 's wife, and daughter, and mother They 

are on their way to join him at Dover : (how full of painful 
interest that place is now become ! My Edward ! oh, my 
Edward !) The mother wishes to get a housekeeper's situa- 
tion, for which she is qualified, and desires your countenance; 
so, while you are at Dumfries and Annan, I pray you to 
satisfy yourself of her character and ability, that we may 
help her, if we can. I commended them to the Lord after 
they had eaten bread with me. Thereafter I addressed myself 
to reading, being broke up for the day by this welcome in- 
terruption, until towards three, when I bore James P on 

his way to the inn, and returned to my own solitary meal ; and 
after it I took myself much to task for want of temperance, 
which, after all, I have not yet attained to. It is a saying 
of one of the Eathers, ' In a full belly all the devils dance,' 
and Luther used to say 'he loved music after dinner, be- 
cause it kept the devils out.' But I believe the truth is, 

12 



178 THE SPIRIT OF A FORMER AGE. 

that temperance wrought by the Spirit is the only defence, 
of which I felt this day the lack, although my dinner was 
wholly of pea-sonp and potatoes ; but I took too much, and 
was ashamed of the evil thoughts which have dared to show 
face in the temple of the Holy Grhost. 

" I prayed the Lord to strengthen me in all time coming 
for His greater glory, and proceeded, about five, on my way 
to Mr Barclay's, Meet Market, taking by the way a brother 
of Hall's, whose house joins by the back of the church. Oh, 
Isabella, how frail we are ! There was a sweet boy of nine 
years, who had never ailed anything in his life, brought in 
one day to the jaws of death, if he be not already consumed, 
of it, by the croup ; and a poor family, and, I fear, an ignor- 
ant one, with whom, having left my prayers and help, I pro- 
ceeded on my way. The boy had said, ' Mother, do not fret; 
I must die some time, and I will go to heaven.' So would 
patient Edward have said, if he could have spoken anything. 
Love not Margaret after the flesh, but after the spirit, my 
dearest wife. I went with fear and trembling to Mr Bar- 
clay's, but with self-rebuke that I had not made it a day of 
prayer and humiliation for their sakes. I had besought the 
Lord, but I did not feel that He was found of me ; and I 
had meditated, by the way, this one thought, kindred to what 
I set forth in my last letter, ' That when the Holy Grhost 
departs from any set of opinions, or form of character, they 
wither like a sapless tree.' "Witness the preaching of Scot- 
land, the voice of the Spirit of a former age ; witness the 
high-flying "Whigs of the A ssembly, the armour-bearers of 
the covenanting Whigs of the Claim of Eights • witness the 
radical and political Dissenters of England, the mocking-birds 
of the Nonconformists ; witness the High Churchmen of 
England, who pretend to maintain what Ridley, and Latimer, 
and Hooper embodied. Ay, there is the figure ; the doc- 
trine is the vainest when the Spirit is gone. Meditate, Isa- 
bella, this deep mystery of the spirit in man quickened by 
the Holy Spirit. I had one meditation at home, ' That im- 
mortal souls, not written compositions, nor printed books, 
were the primum mobile of a minister's activity.' I found 
father and mother, and two sisters, and from the first Mr 

B opened his doubts and difficulties to me, by telling me 

that he hoped to be able to enter better into my new subject 
than into my former, but declaring that he had seen new 
views of his sinfulness, and brought to look to Christ alone 
for salvation, whom he looked upon as his Mediator, Inter- 
cessor, and Redeemer, but could not see as equal with God 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 179 

though he was God's representative. I opened the great 
mystery as I could, telling him at the same time it was 
only to be opened by the Holy Spirit, upon whose offices I 
enlarged, and went over a large field of demonstration with 
much satisfaction to them all, and deep emotion with the 
two daughters, whom I think the Lord our God is calling. 
Then we came to speak of dear David's death, by my recital 
of which they were very much moved, as also by my unfold- 
ing the blessed fruits of our Edward's removal. He has 
been much upon my mind this day. Dearest, I think light 
is breaking upon Mr Barclay's mind. Pray for him ; he is 
to mark his difficulties, which I am to do my endeavour to 

clear up. When I returned, here waited Miss W and a 

Mr M'Nicol, from Oban, who, with his wife, desired the 

ordinance Our chapter was the first seven verses of 

the fourteenth of Luke. What a touching appeal that 
parable of the sheep was for the poor publican to the 
Pharisees ; how delicately reproved they were, themselves 
being allowed to be as men who needed no repentance 
compared with these sinners ! Grant that ye are the unoffend- 
ing, unstrayed children of the house ; but here is one that 
has shipwrecked. May I not go and seek him as ye would 
a strayed sheep, and, if he return, will not the family forget 
their every-day blessedness in a tumult of joy ? The Lord 
strengthened me in prayer, and now He hath strengthened 
me in this writing beyond my expectations. Kiss our be- 
loved child for her father's sake. I heard of you both by 

those airy tongues that syllable men's names Eear 

the Lord, my wife, always ; fear the Lord ! 

" Wednesday, 23rd. — This has been to me a day of tempt- 
ation from dulness and deadness in the divine life. I know 
not whence arising, if it be not from want of more patient 
communion with God in secret, and more frequent meditation 
of His holy Word. Oh, Isabella, there is no abiding in the 
truth but by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is not 
reasoning, or knowledge, or admonition, or council, or watch- 
fulness, or any obher form of spiritual carefulness and ability, 
but His own presence — His own Spirit, quick and lively, 
which maketh us tender, ready, discerning, in the ways of 
righteousness and iniquity. The Spirit searcheth all things, 
yea, the deep things of God. Dearest, mistrust reasonings, 
mistrust examples, mistrust prudential views, mistrust motives, 
and seek for an abiding, a constant spirit of holiness, which 
Bhall breathe of God, and feel of God, and watch in God, and 
care in God, and in all things reveal God to be with us and in 



180 NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 

us. A child possessed of the Holy Spirit is wiser to know 
righteousness from iniquity than the most refined casuist or 
the most enlightened divine. It is truly a spiritual adminis- 
tration, the present administration of our souls, and we see but 
as through a glass, but afterwards face to face. When Christ, 
who is our life, shall appear, we shall know as we are known. 
Oh, seek a presence, an ever-abiding presence of the Holy One, 
for yourself and your husband ! Yet, though heavy in soul, I 
cried to the Lord very often, and He has heard my prayer. I 
know that we shall be tried with various tribulations, but we 
shall not be prevailed against. "While I was occupied construct- 
ing my morning discourse, Mr JN" came in, and we had a 

season of brotherly communion. His sisters go forward, all the 
three, with one consent, and bear a loving heart to us and to 
all the people of G-od. They wished books to peruse, and I 
recommended to them Edwards' History of Redemption, to read 
along with the Old Testament history of the Church, and to 
prepare them for reading the New Testament history of the 
Church. Oh, that this was drawn up by one possessed of the 
Spirit of God, and not the spirit of history, who, in a short 
space and with a round pen, would draw it out after the 
manner of the books of Samuel and the Chronicles, adjoining 
to it specimens of the most pious writings of the Fathers, 
which might answer to the history, as the prophets answer to 

the Old Testament history I also opened my lecture, 

which is to treat of the duty of the Church to support its 
ministers, for I perceive that, from want of being discoursed of, 
these great rudimental ideas of the Church have changed in- 
to convenient and expedient arrangements of human wisdom. 

" I dined alone, and after dinner kept on with the History 
of Rome, whose age of tumults and domestic seditions I have 
arrived at, the condition of people, with plebeian institutions, 
who have lost the bond of religion, and the domestic and moral 
obligations resting on it. That tradition is remarkable of Julius 
Caesar's having the vision of a man of great stature and re- 
markable appearance inviting him to cross the Bubicon, which 
paved the way to the empire, in which form it becomes a pro- 
phetic object, and has a prophetic character. I have resolved, 
nevertheless, to throw that part of my book * which derived its 
materials from the book of Esdras, into a note, lest I should 
give encouragement to the prudential advocates of the 
Apocrypha. It is there that Julius Caesar is a prophetic 

character "When we came to Mrs David's, I had such a 

desire to deliver Brightwell from political leaning in the Slavery 
* Babylon and Infidelity Foredoomed. 



IDOLATRY OF THE UNDERSTANDING. 181 

Abolition question, for I find they are to a man gone into the 
idea that Christianity must have the effect of making the slaves 
disquiet ; that is, they lean so much to the political question, 
that even themselves say, until they are emancipated, it is vain 
that you seek to Christianize them. This is turning round with 
a vengeance ; but it is so everywhere. Oh, my Isabella, how 
the sons of God are intermarrying with the daughters of men ! 
Everywhere some evil spirit is seeking alliance with the Holy 
Spirit. This is to me an evidence that the deluge is at hand. 
Every day I feel more and more alone, and more and more 
rooted and grounded in the truth. The Lord make me faithful, 
though it were by the hating of father, and mother, and brother, 
and my own life. William Hamilton sees this matter as I do, 

and I found Dr M saw the question of liberty as I do : 

these are the only two concurrences I have had in these broad 
and general questions since I came to visit you. But I thank 
God, in other matters of a private and personal kind, I am at 
one with all the children of God. Oh, out of what a pit the 
Lord hath brought me ! How I abhor my former self and all 
my former notions ! I was an idolater of the understanding 
and its clear conceptions; of the spirit, the paralysed, dull, and 
benighted spirit, with its mysterious dawnings of infinite and 
everlasting truth : I was no better than a blasphemer. Now 
the Lord give me grace to bear with those who are what I 
lately was. This discourse wore me out, and, when I came to 
church, I was more fit for a couch and silence ; but I sought 
strength, and, though I could not reach the subject in all its 
extent — ' The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in 
me'— I trust I was able somewhat to put the people on their 
guard against Satan's temptations, and establish the Church in 
Christ, their everlasting strength. .... 

" Thursday, 2MJi. .... In this record, which I make daily 
for the comfort and edification of my dear wife, I desire God 
to be my witness and constant guide, lest I should at any time 
consult for the gratification of my own vanity, or warp truth 
from the great end of His glory, and the comfort of His saint. 
And may He not suffer the method which I pursue, of personal 
narrative, to betray me into any egotism or self-preference, to 
the predjudice of holy truth ! In the morning, our dear friend 
B. M— - — came to breakfast, bringing (diligent man !) the sheets 
of the third volume of Bacon with him. He preferred to be 
with us during worship, and was very much affected, as I judge, 
by our simple service. We read that sublime evaluation of 
wisdom in the Book of Job (xxviii,), which was so appropriate 
to our dear friend's mind, though it came in course, and 1 was 



182 PARTING COUNSELS. 

so stupid and dull, or overawed by his presence, as not to be 
able personally to apply it. Dearest Isabella, what a passage 
of Holy Writ that is ! What a climax of sublimity, ranging 
through the profound mysteries of the bowels of the earth, 
and the knowledge of man and all his most valuable posses- 
sions, and through the earth and the hoary deep, and through 
death and the grave, till at length he finds it in the simplicity 
of spiritual truth : — ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding.' It is 
equalled by the nineteenth cnapter, which is in the pathetic 
what the other is in the sublime ; expressing the uttermost 
dejection and desolation, and from the depths of it all piercing 
through gloomy time, and hoary ruin and waste, to the resur- 
rection, when he should meet the Redeemer from all these 
troubles, and stand before Him in immortal being. My dear 
companion of thought, meditate these two chapters of in- 
spiration ; they will repay you well. 

" The four German missionaries came in during prayer, 
and I think I had a spirit of supplication granted to me in in- 
terceding for their sakes. We had a sweet discourse during 
breakfast. I think our dear friend is melting into sweeter 
moods, and overcoming himself not a little. I trust, by the 
grace of God, to see him a disciple of the Lord, humble and 
meek. His manner to me is utterly changed, permitting me 
to follow my own manner of discourse in things spiritual and 
divine. When breakfast was finished, I left him and James 
together, and brought the missionaries into the library, for 
they came to take leave. Then I opened to them the condition 
of the world, as presented to us in the prophecy, and the hopes 
to which they had to look forward; of the falling ' of the cities 
of the nations,' that is, the superstitions of the world. Then, 
as their constant encouragement, I read them the seventeenth 
chapter of John : their Lord's intercession for their sakes, 
which now He hath power also to accomplish, if they have 
faith in Him. Oh, Isabella, it seemed to me a rich reward of 
all their labours, that they would be brought to a nearer ac- 
quaintance with these most precious apostolic consolations, the 
14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters of John. Then I recounted 
to them my own missionary success in London, the hindrances 
of Satan, the enmities of my countrymen and their evil reports, 
the enemies in this place, and whatever else was raised up 
against me, in order to acquaint them with the wonderful 
works of God on my behalf, unworthy sinner, headstrong rebel, 
as I am. Then we joined in prayer, and I besought the Lord 
to be for home and friends, and wisdom and strength, to these 



A FUNERAL. 183 

defenceless sheep, which were about to go forth among wolves. 
I made them write their names and nativities in my book, 
chiefly for your eye, seeing you are not permitted to see them 
before they go. I do again pray the Lord to be their guide 
and their prosperity. 

" By this time the mourning coach had arrived, to carry 
me to the funeral of my beloved son in the Gospel, which took 
up, by Clerkenwell church, a Mr T— — , who, with his wife, 
are hearers in my church ; with whom also I returned, and was 
enabled to speak clearly to his soul, without any shamefaced- 
ness, and, I trust, with pastoral love and fidelity. The truth 
drew tears from his eyes ; whether the Lord may bless it to 
his spirit, He who is wise will witness. When we arrived, 
there were several assembled of. her trusty friends and nearest 

kindred, and among others, Mr A , the counsellor. He 

began to remind me, in a voice little apt to mourning, or mindful 
of the sacredness of the house of mourning, that the last time 
we had met was at the house of feasting, dining with the lords 
at the Old Bailey ; upon which I felt it my duty, in order to 
overawe worldly intrusions, to take up that word and say that 
my friend had reminded me of our last meeting at the house 
of feasting, and that as it would have been thought very inde- 
corous then to have obtruded the face or feeling of sorrow, so 
this house of sorrow and death had also its rights, which did 
not bear with the conversation of lively (minds) and worldli- 
ness ; but with humble moods and downcast spirits, and mourn- 
ing before the Lord, and other afflictive conditions of the soul ; 
and when it was a Christian who was taken, and from Chris- 
tians that he was taken, there should shine upon the troubled 
waters a gleam of light, and a hope of glory, and thankfulness, 
and joy : the joy of grief that he had escaped the troublous 
and chastening deep. This led to discourse that was profitable. 
..... Poor "William wept very sore, but always sorest when 
I mingled religious warnings to him and counsels ; then he 
turned his face and his eyes to me, as we walked together in 
the churchyard, and wept without restraint, as if he had said, 
Oh, forsake me not, forsake me not ! And I will not forsake 
thee, my orphan boy, G-od not forsaking me. It drizzled and 
rained ; several of the congregation were waiting there, to walk 
behind the company ; and when he was lowered into the grave, 
I stood forth to declare the conquest of death and the grace of 
God, in the faith of our brother, and exhorted the people to 
be of a good and constant faith, after which we prayed and de- 
parted to our homes and occupations, I trust not without mo- 
tions of the Holy Spirit to a better life. Then applying my- 



1S4 DETERIORATION. 

self to study what short interval was left me, I proceeded to 

Bedford Square On my way, I called at Mr H 's, 

and found the old man growing worse ; but he would not see 
me. That is very remarkable. I gather that he sees his partner. 
Dare he not bear my probe ? It is wont to be very gentle ; 

but she is a saint growing fast 

" Friday, 25th November. — This morning I arose rather 

worn and weary I have all day experienced that trial 

which many have continually, of a troublous body, but am better 
now at night. This condition of my body and mind was not 
relieved by many interruptions, while I had upon me the weight 
of two discourses. First, Mr Hamilton bringing me the tid- 
ings of Mr H 's illness ; then Mr Whyte, who called by 

appointment ; then Mr Dinwiddie posting with the same ac- 
count of Mr H — — . I would they would help me, not beat me 
up as if I were slothful, when my poor soul is like to languish 
with too much exertion. But formality, formality, thou art 
man's scourge ! and thou, spirit of truth and duty, thou art 
man's comforter! My elders have a nice idea of things 
being rightly managed, I wish they had the spirit of it ; and I 

think that also is growing. Then came Miss D with the 

same tidings ; and though I was in the midst of weakness, with 
such a load on my mind, I went my ways with my papers in 
my pocket, having to meet Mr W — — at Mr Dinwiddie's at 

dinner. I found Mr H shut himself up from my visits, 

although he saw both his medical man and his mercantile 
partner. I pray the Lord to be his Shepherd and comfort in 
my stead ; and we prayed in the adjoining room, and afterwards 
I came down-stairs to study, being purposed to wait as long as 
I could. Towards four Mrs H— — came to me, and we had 
much discourse with one onother. She told me of the saintly 

character of her father, and of Mr H 's grandfather 

"Why are there no such saints in Scotland now ? Because their 
wine is mingled with water — their food is debased. It will 
nourish men no longer, but dwarflings. Oh, Scotland ! oh, 
Scotland ! how I groan over thee, thou, and thy children, and 
thy poverty-stricken church ! Thy Humes are thy Knoxes, 
thy Thomsons are thy Melvilles, thy public dinners are thy 
sacraments, and the speeches which attend them are the minis- 
trations of their idol. And the misfortune, dearest, is that the 
scale is falling everywhere in proportion, ministers and people, 
cities and lonely places ; so that it is like going into the Shet- 
land Islands, where, though you have the same plants, they are 
all dwarfed, and the very animals dwarfed, and the men also. 
So valuable is pure, unadulterated doctrine ; so valuable is pure 



THE NEW CHURCH. 185 

faithful preaching ; so valuable is simple faith, and a single eye 
to the glory of God. How well the state of our Church, nay, of 
the Christian Church in general, is described by the account 
of the Laodicean Church. It almost tempts me to think more 
of the idea that these seven Churches are emblems of the seven 
ages of the Christian Church, to the last of which men are 
now arrived. My dear, if this is to be reformed, if it is to be 
withstood, and I have faith to undertake it, I think I must 
stand alone, for I can get no sympathy amongst my brethren. 
Dr Gordon even has not had this revealed to him ; and for 
Dr Chalmers, he is immersed in civil polity and political 
economy, a kind of purse-keeper to the Church Apostolic. 
And for Andrew Thomson, he is a gladiator of the intellect, his 
weapons being never spiritual, but intellectual merely, and 
these of an inferior order, — nothing equal to those that are in 
the field against him. Of these things I am calmly convinced ; 
for these things I am truly troubled ; and to be helpful to the 
removal of these things, I pray God for strength continually. 
You must be a helpmeet for me in this matter as in other 
matters, and, I pray you, for that as well as for your own 
blessedness, seek the purity of the faith, the sincere milk of the 
Word, that you may grow thereby. So I counselled dear Mrs 

H , when she looked out from those eyes so full of sorrow, 

so full of doubt, so full of supplication, and gave me her cold 
hand again and again, and often asking that I would remember 
them in my prayer. 

" I walked melancholy enough along Burton Crescent, to 
see the church for the second time, which is now up to the 
level of the first windows, indeed above it, and in front the 
yellow stones are showing themselves above the ground, and 
when it is finished I doubt not it will be a seemly building. 
But may the Lord fill it with the glory of His own spiritual 
presence, and endow me with gifts to watch over the thousands 
who are to assemble therein ! or raise up some other more 
worthy, and take me to His rest. Ah ! how formality hath 
worn out the excellent faculties of the females at Burton 
Crescent, and the continual longing for that state and rank 
whence they have fallen ! Oh, how thou dost skilfully take thy 
game, thou spirit of delusion ! Lord, deliver Thou their 
feet out of the net, I do humbly pray Thee ; and give me grace 
to be found faithful in this city of the dead. After dinner 
I opened my mouth to them all — Mr Woodrow, Hamilton, 
Virtue, Aitchison — expounding to them the doctrine of the 
Holy Spirit, and the withered trunk of form, ceremony, and 
mere doctrine which remained when He was gone ; illustrating 



186 MINISTERIAL LIBERTY. 

it by all things in which there was once a spirit of holiness, 
and which, during the last century, the most unspiritual, I 
think, we ever have had, faded away out of everything ; where- 
by we are become these meagre skeletons of saints and minis- 
ters which I lamented over. They had nothing to say in reply, 
and, if I might judge, were a good deal impressed with what I 
had testified. The Lord give it fruit ! Mr Woodrow and I 
came away at eight o'clock, and I bore him company through 
Russell Square, I think he is likely to be elected,* but it is 
by no means certain yet. The elders have been telling him 
that he must be more plain, as they are plain people ; that is, 
he must not leave their beaten track ; and that he must be 
shorter ; that is, not interrupt their family arrangements of 
dinner, &c. ; and that he must be more explicit in discourse, in 
order to gratify their desire of mere fragments of knowledge, 
instead of receiving the living continuity of spirit and soul, 
which a discourse ought to be. Oh, that cutting of truth into 
bits is like dividing the body into fragments ! Death, death unto 
it ! The truth should breathe continuous ; the spirit of truth 
should inspire every member of a discourse, instead of our having 
it in those cold, lifeless limbs of abstract intellectual proportions. 
How your father would laugh at this ! Nevertheless, tell him 
it is truth, though ill-expressed in my present feebleness of 
conception. I told Woodrow, if he yielded a scruple of his 
ministerial liberty, I would call him brother no more, but im- 
peach him of treason to the Great Prophet. Nevertheless, I 
encouraged him to be of good cheer, for he was a little cast 

down. I came home by Mr H 's, and found him as I had 

left him ; but saw her not — only comforted poor Agnes, whom 

I met in the passage. Miss W came to prayers, and I 

trust the Lord was with us. The greater part of the afternoon 
I devoted to your ear, Tibby, which is to me more sweet audience 
than the ear of princes or of learned men. Fare thee well ! 

Saturday, 2Gtk Novemher. — Yesterday and yesternight, 
dearest wife, I had many thoughts of our departed son, our 
first-born, and I was able to use David's words in the Psalm of 
that night, ' Thy judgments, Lord, are just, and in righteous- 
ness hast thou afflicted me.' My dreams brought you and little 
Margaret before me, and I said, Dear Isabella, it is little Ed- 
ward ; and was not undeceived till I saw her small black eyes 
instead of his full-orbed blue, whose loving kindness was so 
dear to me even in death. But my dreams withal were very 
pleasant, and not afflicted with evil suggestions. This morning 
I have arisen fresh and lively, and have already nearly finished 
* As minister of one of the Scotch churches in London. 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 187 

my discourses ; and now, at three o'clock, am hastening to cover 
this sheet with sweet thoughts for your dear mind, that you 

may receive it before leaving Fife. Mr H is no more in 

this world. He died about eleven o'clock, and I have now a 
letter from dear Agnes. May the Lord comfort the widow and 
the fatherless ! I think I shall have time, after finishing this, 
to hasten down, though it were but for a few minutes. Oh, 
Isabella ! put nothing off, my dearest, put nothing off ; have 
nothing to do, have all besought, have all believed, have all 
done, and live quietly unto eternity! Say so to your dear father 
and mother, and all the family. "We know not what a day may 
bring forth. If you be languid, then cry for help ; if you be 
under bondage, cry for deliverance ; and abide believing, abide 
believing ; opening your heart to the admonitions of the Holy 
One — your ear to admonitions of every faithful one. Turn aside 
from lies, from flattery, from vanity and folly. Be earnest, be 
grave — always ready. There will be no folly, nor laughter, nor 
bedimming of truth with false appearances, nor masquerading, 
in eternity. But I return. After prayer, in which I seek the 
spirit of prayer above all requests, for my soul wanders, there 
is an under-current of feeling, and even of thinking. It is very 
amaziug we can speak to G-od so, and not to any mortal. I am 
oft to seek for an answer to man, when I am thinking of an- 
other matter ; but I dare speak to Ood, though I am thinking 
of another matter. Oh ! what is this, my dear Isabella ? It is 
very lamentable, and I lament it very much. The Lord doth 
not hear us because we ask amiss. Now, my dear wife, make 
it for yourself and myself a constant prayer that we may have 
the spirit of prayer and supplication bestowed upon us ; rather 
pause to recover the soul, than hurry on in a stream of words. 
I take it this must be still more felt by those who use forms, and 
that this is one of the chief advantages of the disuse of forms : 
but no means will charm forth the evil heart of unbelief. He 
only who hath all power in heaven and earth is able — our Savi- 
our and our Lord. Now I had almost forgotten that this is the 
day before your communion. It is stormy here, may it be quiet 
with you ; and to the saints may it be a day of much refresh- 
ment ! . . . . 

" Now, with respect to your journey, if you set out on Thurs- 
day you must not go farther than Dumfries that week ; and 
then open your mind to Margaret and James Fergusson con- 
cerning the things of the Spirit. Be not filled with apprehen- 
sions about baby. The Lord will prove your shield and hers. 
There is nothing will interest you till you come to the edge of 
my Dumfriesshire After you go through Thornhill you 



188 DIRECTIONS FOR MRS IRVING's JOURNEY. 

pass the Campbell Water Then as you come to the Shep- 
herd's Bar, you are upon Allan Cunningham's calf-ground, and 

in the midst of a scene worthy of the Trosachs Within 

four miles of Dumfries you pass through a village. That village 
my uncle Bryce founded for the people at the time of the French 
Kevolution, when he wrote a book on Peace, seeing well that 
the spirit of anarchy was out ; and a half-mile further on you 
will see Holy wood Manse, a bow-shot from the road, and the 

church, where my uncle and aunt lie side by side Now, 

for the rest, you will find a letter waiting you at Dumfries 

The Lord guard you on your journey, and temper the blast to 
the little darling It is now past four, and I hasten to sa- 
lute Mrs H , widow, with the blessing of her husband, and 

the children, orphans, with the blessing of their father. Be at 
peace, full of faith and blessedness ! 

" Saturday, 26t7i November. — After putting your letter in the 
post-office, and still without any uplifting of the soul that it 
might be safely conveyed to you, and arrive in good season (so 

doth custom eat out piety), I went directly to the H s' ; 

Mrs H- , the most composed, being manifestly full of faith, 

and by faith supported ; and I felt moved with much fellow- 
feeling. She spoke of his kindness to all — of his charity to the 
poor — of his constant cheerfulness in a most perplexing and 
tried life — of his faith in Christ, though it had little outward 
appearance, — of all which I was well pleased to hear. We then 
went upstairs, and having assembled the family, I sought to 
apply to them the 130th Psalm and the 4th and 5th of 1st Thes- 
salonians : showing them that the only hope was in Christ Jesus 
either for themselves or the departed. Then I proceeded to Mr 

W , and received Mr Bell's instructions for you. The place 

is Bossal, near York. . . . You must go to the George Inn, York, 
which is the posting-house, and take a post-chaise to the house, 
where you are expected with much delight ; and may it be de- 
lightful to us all. Mrs W is better. We had very sweet 

discourse, in which I was enabled to maintain faithfully the 
truth, — I fear, not so much in the love of it as I could desire. 
And, oh ! I am pressed with the desire of nearer communion to 
the Divine throne ! There is something in my spirit very para- 
lytic, there. Oh, that I could pray unto the Lord — even with 
what affection I write these letters ! I do earnestly pray the Lord 
to take the veil off my heart, and I believe in good time He will. 
. . . . Now I go to seek the Lord in secret for us all. Farewell ! 

" Sunday, 1*1 th November. — I have reason to bless the Lord, 
my dear Isabella, for His strengthening and encouraging pre- 
sence this day, both in the ministry of the Word and of prayer ; 



UNDER-CURRENT OF THOUGHT DURING PRAYER. 189 

which I receive as His wonderful patience with my unworthi- 
ness, and as a sign that His hand is towards me for good. In the 
morning prayer I was better able to abstract my soul from 
under-thoughts, and to stand with my people before the Lord. 
I have been led to think more concerning that under-current of 
thought during prayer, and I perceived it to be owing to our 
infidelity. The living and true God, with His acts and attri- 
butes, is not present to oar spirit ; but our own ideas of Him, 
and customs of discourse, which the mind presents while think- 
ing of other things, as it doth in many other cases. . . . There- 
fore it is the awe of God's presence — the reality of His presence — 
by which the soul is to be cured of this evil — this heinous evih 
It is the feeling of this want which has introduced pictures and 
statues among the Catholics, and I take it to be the same 
which makes the Episcopalian attached to forms. But nothing 
will do, dear, but His own presence — the presence of His own 
invisible Spirit in our hearts, crying unto our Father which is 
in heaven. Prayer, my dearest, is the complaint of the Holy 
Spirit under His incarnation in our hearts. Our chapter in the 
morning was the 5th of Hebrews, comprehending Christ's 
priesthood. But I find I have not strength for unfolding these 
high matters. My beloved, fare thee well ! My baby, the bless- 
ing of the Lord upon thee ! 

" In considering the priestly office of Christ, be at pains to 
separate it from the prophetic. . . . My discourse was on justi- 
fication by faith alone. . . . And I concluded with exhortations 
to humility, and an abiding sense of the Saviour's righteousness, 
and of our own wickedness, and of a new principle derived from 
the former, which should be generative of a set of works truly 
good, truly holy, truly blessed. In the evening I read the sweet 
and picturesque account of Isaac's courting, and took occasion 
to press the fidelity of the servant in all points, and to point 
out the verisimilitude which the narrative bore with the man- 
ners of the ages nearest to those times. I discoursed concern- 
ing the duty of the Church to their ministers in respect to 
support ; yet handling the subject largely and widely, with the 
view of demonstrating the total disproportion between moral 
and spiritual services and pecuniary rewards, — showing them 
my favourite maxim, that money is the universal falsehood, and 
the universal corruption, when we use it for discharging obliga- 
tions contracted by spiritual or moral services. For example, 
if you think the wage discharges you of your obligation to 
Mary, you are deceived out of so much spiritual feeling as should 
have repaid her, and corrupted into a worldling; and so if 
Mary were to think her obligations discharged by works ; and 



190 LESSONS IN SPANISH. 

so of all giving of gifts to express sentiments. They do express 
the sentiment, but discharge it they can never. This was a very 
fertile topic of discourse, and full of warning to the worldly 
people. There were very large congregations to hear, and I 
trust they were edified. Our service extended to three hours 
in the morning, and two hours and a half in the evening, and 1 
find I cannot relax. . , . 

" Monday, 28th. — This morning Sottomay or the soldier was 
with us, and James and I, partly of charity, partly of vener- 
ation to the old Spanish character and literature, have agreed 
to take lessons in Spanish at seven every morning, which will 
curtail this letter. So we have provided us in Bibles, with 
which we are to begin, and afterwards we shall read Don 

Quixote Then there came Mr M to read with me 

the Greek Testament, and we gave ourselves to the 6th chap- 
ter, which I will open to you in some other place. I think 
the Lord, by the help of Father Simon, hath enabled me to 
understand it. Oh, I thank God for the change upon that 

young man ! Even P , who is very judicious, and was with 

him an hour alone, could discern in him no superciliousness 
nor conceit. He is very docile, and is to come every Monday 
for an hour or two. I hope to do for him what others have 
done for me. . . . 

" Tuesday, 29th. — Last night I endured the temptation of 
many evil thoughts and imaginations, which the good Spirit 
of God enabled me to overcome, although it was a great trou- 
ble and vexation to my soul Such an almighty and in- 
finite work is the sanctification of the soul ! Our Lord hath 
said, ' Satan cometh and findeth nothing in me.' Alas ! how 
otherwise with us ! The Holy Spirit cometh and findeth no- 
thing in us ! . . . What a work is the sanctification of a soul ! 
It is second only to its redemption ; and to that second only 
in place and order, not in degree. In the morning, we started 
at seven o'clock to the Book of Samuel, and made out one 
chapter with Giuseppe Sottomay or, who commends himself 
more and more to my esteem as a man of true principle and 
piety. I think the work of conviction goes on in his mind. 
He breakfasted and worshipped with us ; after which I came 
to my study, and did not rise, except to snatch a portion of 
dinner, till five o'clock. In that time I did little else than 
study a chapter in the Hebrew Bible, and read Poole's Synopsis 
upon it, which is written in Latin, with abundant Hebrew and 
Greek quotations, that occupy me well — insomuch that, if my 
time will allow, I purpose doing the same daily. Por I fell 
in with a dictionary, which I can consider little else than a pro- 



THE WINGS OF LOVE. 191 

vidential gift, in two handy little quarto volumes, — a Latin 
dictionary, which renders the word into Hebrew, Greek, French, 
Italian, Grerman, Spanish, Dutch ; so that it is to me a con- 
tinual assistance of the memory, besides affording a perpetual 
delight in tracing the diversity and analogy of languages, iu 
which I had always great pleasure. . . . During my solitary 
study I received two sweet interruptions — one in the shape 
of a messenger from a far country, coming from one dear to 
you, but dearer to me, and who loves me too well to love her- 
self well. Now, who is that ? and who is that messenger ? A 
riddle which I take you to resolve. . . . The messenger was 
from yourself, in the shape of a letter, laying out your plans 
of travel, and making merry with my scheme. JN"ow Kant's 
Metaphysics was not in my mind, but that better authority, 
the road-book. For you must know that, setting off on Mon- 
day morning, I can be in York, you at Bossal, to breakfast on 
Tuesday. ... So that you see there is neither Kantian negation 
of space and time, nor the wings of love, in the matter ; but 
simple, prosaic, stage-coach locomotion. . . . Being so far, I 
went on to Bedford Square. . . . But there is no getting a 
spiritual discourse maintained : you can but set it forth in in- 
tellectual parables, which are nothing so efficient as the para- 
bles for the sense which our Lord was accustomed to use. 
But, dearest, we must either speak in parables to the world, 
or we must be silent ; or we must present a wry and deceptive 
form of truth ; or we must cast our pearls before swine. Of 
which choice the first is to be preferred, and our Lord there- 
fore adopted it. Because a parable is truth veiled, not truth 
dismembered ; and as the eye of the understanding grows more 
piercing, the veil is seen through, and the truth stands reveal- 
ed. Now, parables are infinite ; besides those to the imagin- 
ation, they are to the intellect in the way of argument, to the 
heart in the way of tender expression and action, and to the 
eye in the way of a pure and virtuous carriage. And the 
whole visible demonstration of Christian life is, as it were, an 
allegorical way of preaching truth to the eyes of the world ; 
whether it be wisdom in discourse, or charity in feeling, or 
holiness in action. But I wander. I returned home about 
seven, and addressed myself to write my action sermon ;* but 
found myself too fatigued to conceive or express aught worthy 
of the subject — ' Do this in remembrance of me ' — and I know 
not whether anything may be yielded to me this night worthy 

* The name usually given in Scotland to the sermon preached before the 
communion. 



192 TOKENS OF GOD'S BLESSING. 

of it. . . . I trust our meeting may be blessed to add gifts to 
us mutually. I am truly happy to anticipate it so much sooner. 

" You are now among my dear kindred, who I know will 
be very kind to you, for your own sake and for mine. I owe 
them all a great debt of love and affection, which I shall never 
be able to repay. I look to you to drop seasonable words into 
their ears, especially concerning their salvation and their little 
ones. For nothing is so fatal to Scotland as lethargy. I trust 
they are not nominal Christians ; but I would fain have deeper 
convictions of so important a matter. I pray you not to yield 
anything to your natural kindness at the expense of your 
health, and risk of the infant ; but in all things, as before the 
Lord, to take the steps which you judge the best, looking to 
His blessing. To this also I charge you by your love and 
obedience to me. This day is very fine. I hope you are on 
your journey ; and I earnestly pray you may travel as Abraham 
did, at every resting-place setting up an altar to God in your 
heart. We remember you night and morning in our prayers ; 
and I trust that the Lord will graciously hear us. At Annan 
I have nothing for you to say particularly, but to assure them 
of my most dutiful love and constant prayers, and to entreat 
them not to slumber. . . . The Lord bring you in safety to my 
bosom, and to your home. I know you will care for Mary in 
everything as one of the family, and bound to us by many acts 
of faithfulness and love. 

" Wednesday, 30th November. — My dear Isabella, I am 
daily loaded with the tokens of the Lord's goodness, which I 
regard with the more wonder and gratitude, as I have been 
this week more than ordinarily tried with inward trials ; and 
to receive tokens of love from a friend, when we are wavering 
in our fealty, is also always very full of rebuke. But I have 
withstood Satan according to my ability, and he hath not been 
allowed to prevail over me, nor will, I trust, by the continuance 

of unfailing prayers So you see, my dear, what tokens I 

have of the Lord's blessing ; there are not fewer than thirty- 
five who have come seeking to be joined to the Church at this 
time ; and no other season have I observed the same zeal, and 
intelligence, and faith. Oh, that the Lord for their sakes 
would furnish me with good ! I lament much that so few of 
the Scotch youths are drawn. I think there is not much above 
one-third Scotchmen. I trust the Lord will draw near to them. 
I think they can hardly fail either to leave the congregation 
altogether, or to join the Church, my preaching has been of 
late so separating. . . . This letter will reach you at Annan, 



A YOUNG VISITOR. 193 

where, individually and collectively, I pray my dutiful affection 
and ministerial blessing to be given by you. Farewell ! and 
may the Lord be your shade to-morrow, in your journey south- 
ward! 

" Thursday, 1st Decemher. — The beginning of a new month, 
my dearest, wherein let us stir up our souls to more lively faith 
in these great and precious promises which we inherit from 
the death of our Lord, which you have so lately, and which we 
are so soon about to commemorate. I look back upon the 
last month as one in which I have had various experiences of 
good and evil — encouragements beyond all former experience, 

and trials of Satan proportioned thereto I have had 

many revelations, and beckonings, and overtures to enter into 
the temple's inmost place, which I shall yet do, if the Lord 
permit. If I allowed anxiety to prey upon me, I would now 
be anxious for you and the child, having seen by the papers 
that so much snow is fallen in the North. But the Lord, who 
sendeth His ice as morsels, and giveth the snow like wool, and 
scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes, will not let it alight upon 
you without good and gracious ends, for the very hairs of your 
head are numbered. I have had a good deal of conversation 
this night with Mr Hunter, who is returned from the North, 
concerning the comparative fatigue and comfort of posting and 
travelling by the mail, and he says for both reasons, but espe- 
cially for less exposure to the cold, the mail is to be preferred. 
.... Take wise counsel in the matter. I had a very pleasant 

call this morning from Mr W , desiring, by conversation 

with me, to express his forgiveness of his friend, and to purge 
himself of all malice and revenge, before bringing his gift to 

the altar After he was gone, I sought to continue my 

discourse, and, when I had laid down my pen to enter upon 
my Hebrew studies, I was interrupted by the call of a young 
lady, who had stolen to me, having heard me preach, and think- 
ing me likely to listen to her. ... I thought the struggle be- 
tween shamefacedness and fear on the one hand, and her de- 
sire of counsel on the other, would have wholly overpowered 
her. I found she had been taught of the Spirit without know- 
ing it, and, when I taught her by the "Word, it was sweet to 
witness the response of her soul pronouncing the Amen, ' That 
I know,' ' That I feel is true.' She is one in a family, and the 
rest have no fellowship with her 

" A proof-sheet occupied me till dinner, and after dinner I 
read the Roman History till towards six, when I had to meet 
my young communicants, to introduce them to the session. 
There was a goodly number of them present, to whom I ad- 

13 



194 A "BENEDICT." 

dressed a word of instruction concerning the infinite honour 
to which thej were admitted, and the duties which devolved 

upon them in their Christian calling I had received a 

letter from Andrew P , desiring that his mother might 

be remembered in our prayers, as one looking for death. This 
moved me to go and see the afflicted servant of Christ, whom 
I found brought very low, and not likely to recover again, her 
children rejoicing in her joy, and content to part with her to 
the joy of her Lord. So the arrows of the Lord are flying on 
all sides of us. This made it past eleven when I got home, 
and I found Mr Murray sitting to inform me that he was 
about to become ' a Benedict,' which means blessed, — which 
means a husband. I wish them all happiness. And so was I 
hindered from fulfilling this duty, being overladen with sleep, 

and worn out with labour 

" Friday, 2nd Decemher. — This morning, dearest, I felt, 
when called at seven, the effects of yesterday's labour, and was 
not able to arise, from headache, which I durst not brave, hav- 
ing such a weight of thought and action before me ; therefore 
I lay still, endeavouring to sleep it off, and rose not till half- 
past nine, when descending quietly, I sought to get to work 
without interruption, and, thank Grod, have made out a good 
day's work, being well-nigh finished with my action sermon ; 
and, for the rest, I am very much disposed to depend upon the 
Spirit to give me utterance. For to-morrow, all the morning 

I have to be helpful to Mrs H , and the evening I have 

to preach to the people. After working with my pen, I took 
an interlude of history, walking in the garden, when my 
thoughts are fullest of our darling. But, indeed, I know not 
how it is, I think the last two or three days I have been think- 
ing of him too much, and last night I dreamed he was in life, 
and, though drooping like a flower, giving hope of health again. 
He was on your knee, and I thought I caught the first sign of 
hope — to seize him and carry him into the fresh air, when it 
all vanished before me into the sad reality. Then I addressed 
myself to my Hebrew studies, at which I continued till I went 

forth to minister comfort to Mrs H 's family, with whom 

I worshipped, opening to them that Psalm of diviue sorrow 
(the xlii.) where the Psalmist, in all his sorrows, sees nothing 
to lament but his distance and separation from the house of 
God, and the communion of His people. I came back at half- 
past eight, having several appointments with those who had 
not spoken to me in time, yet sought with earnestness to ap- 
proach the table of the Lord. And now, more briefly, and less 
feelingly and spiritually than I would have desired, have I set 



CONCLUSION OF THE JOURNAL. 195 

forth to you the incidents of Thursday, which to my soul hath 
been a day of consolation. Oh, that the Lord would break 
these bands of sleep — these heavy eyelids of drowsiness, my 
beloved wife, and awake us to the full vision of the truth and 
possession of the things of faith ! You are now, I trust, by 
the mercy of God, seated beside my most honoured parents, 
to whom I present my dutiful affection, praying the Lord to 
compass them with His grace ; and, oh, tell them to press 
inwards to the temple ; not to rest, but to press onward. Ex- 
hort them from me to have no formality. Tell them that, 
until religion cease to be a burden, it is nothing — till prayer 
cease to be a weariness, it is nothing. However difficult, and 
however imperfect, the spirit must still rejoice in it, after the 
inward man. ... If I write much longer, you will not be able 
to read ; for there is a great combination against me — a weary 
hand, a heavy eye, a pen worn to the quick, a dull mind, and a 
late hour ; and a day before me of much occupation. There- 
fore, farewell to all that are with you, and to all with whom 
you abide ! 

" Saturday. I thought, my dearest, to have finished this 
before the post, but have been taken up all the morning, till 
two o'clock, doing the last duties to our beloved friend, Mr 

H- ; and having to preach to-night, I rather choose to 

take up the only hour that is left me in meditation for so 
many souls. The Lord bless you, and the house in which you 
dwell ! I trust in the grace of Grod to sustain me to-morrow, 
and to give you a good journey. 

" The Lord bless my father's house ! 

" Tour affectionate husband, 

" Edward Irving." 

" If you take the mail from Carlisle, you should take it 
only to Kattrick Bridge, or, perhaps, a stage farther. I think 
it is but eighteen miles from Kattrick Bridge, and the land- 
lord seemed to me a very pleasant old man. If the time of 
leaving Carlisle be too soon, you could perhaps go on a stage 
or two the night before. The Lord direct you in all things ! 

" Forget not the shoes — I care not how many pairs, only 
pay for them ; for my mother will always make herself a beg- 
gar for her children." 

Thus concludes a journal which, perhaps, has no parallel in 
modern days. A picture so minute, yet so broad — a self-reve- 
lation so entire — a witness so wonderful of that household 
love, deepened by mutual suffering and sorrow, which so far 
transcends in its gravity and soberness the more voluble pas- 



196 THE SILENT SEED-TIME. 

sions of youth — has never, so far as I am aware, been given to 
the world. It is not wonderful that, over the vicissitudes of 
more than a quarter of a century, the scattered remnants of 
the family, once admitted, even in part, to the secret soul of 
such a man, should remember these letters with a certain tear- 
ful exultation, the traces of the departed glory ; nor that the 
wife, to whom all were addressed, should have cherished them 
to the last as too sacred for common sight. This is the first 
and only journal of Irving's life. On various occasions after- 
wards, he was separated from his wife for considerable periods ; 
but never again produced anything like the affecting history, 
at which he laboured day by day and hour by hour, to cheer 
the mother of his dead baby, as she lay, weak and sorrowful, 
in the faintest hour of a woman's life, in the sad affectionate 
shelter of her father's house. Few men or heroes have been 
laid in their grave with such a memorial as envelopes the baby 
name of little Edward ; and I think few wives will read this 
record without envying Isabella Irving that hour of her an- 
guish and consolation. 



CHAPTER XII. 

1826, 1827. 



Aftee the full and detailed personal portrait which Irving 
gives of himself in these journal-letters, a period of compara- 
tive silence follows. This was the silent seed-time of the exciting 
and exhausting years, full of conflict and struggle, upon the 
threshold of which he stood. The full flood of life which now 
carried him along was not more visible in his actual labours 
than it was in the eager progress of his unresting and ever- 
active spirit. Whether his mind had ever been content with 
the sober Presbyterian ideal of a democratic Church, in which 
the will of the people had really, if not nominally, a distinct 
and apparent sway, and in which the priests were subject to 
the perpetual criticism of a community too much disposed to 
argument and individual opinion to yield much veneration to 
their legitimate leaders, it is difficult to say ; but the Scotch 
imagination has always found a way of escaping from those 
prosaic trammels. That which the outside world has distin- 
guished as religious liberty, and recognized as the object of the 






THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST. 197 

many struggles in which the Church of Scotland has engaged, 
has never been so named or considered among the champions 
of that Church. Their eyes, throughout the long and event- 
ful drama, have been fixed, not upon the freedom of individual 
worship, or the rights of the Christian people, but upon a 
much loftier, ineffable principle, often converted into an in- 
strument of evil, yet always retaining, to some, the divinest 
sunshine of ideal perfection. Now-a-days, when martyrdoms 
are no longer possible, and heretical stakes and blocks are long 
ago out of fashion, it is more difficult than it once was, to 
idealize, out of a struggle for mere ecclesiastical authority, that 
conflict which, in the days of blood and violence, so many 
humble heroes waged for the headship of Christ. To many a 
Scotch confessor this doctrine has stood instead of a visible 
general, animating the absolute peasant-soul to so distinct a 
conception of Christ's honour and authority, as the object for 
which it contended, that the personal ardour of the conflict 
puzzles the calm observer, who understands as nothing but a 
dogma this inspiring principle. The events which made the 
great crisis in the existence of Scotland a struggle for her 
faith, drove this lofty, visionary conception into the ideal soul 
of the nation, where it has ever since existed, and is still ap- 
pealed to, as the experience of to-day ca.n testify. "When, ac- 
cording to the evidence of facts, the Covenanters were fighting 
against the imposed liturgy and attempted episcopacy of the 
Charleses, they were, to their own fierce consciousness, 
struggling for the principle that, in the Church, Charles was 
nothing and Christ all in all ; nor has the sentiment failed in 
more recent struggles. Irving had received this national 
creed along with his earliest impressions : he had even received 
it in the still closer theocratic model well known in ancient 
Scotland, where Grod the ruler was everywhere visible, in pro- 
vidence, judgment, and mercy. But his impassioned soul led 
him to reconstruct upon these sublime elements another ideal 
of a Church than that which has long been supreme in Scot- 
land. Unconsciously his thoughts elevated themselves, and 
grew into fuller development ; unconsciously he assumed in 
his own person the priestly attitude, and felt himself standing 
between Grod and the people. Then the community itself rose 
under his glowing gaze into a baptized world, — a Christendom 
separated by the initiatory ordinance of Christianity, of which 
Christ was the sole head. The longer he contemplated this 
world, the more it rose out of the region of doctrine into that 
of reality. That Lord became no distant Presence, but a Per- 
son so intensely realized and visible, that the adoring eye per- 



198 EXPANSION OE SPIRIT. 

ceived the human pulses throbbing in His veins ; and for awe, 
and love of that mysterious union, the worshipper could not 
keep silence. That faith became no system of words, but a 
divine evidence and substantial proof of the unutterable glo- 
ries ; that baptism grew out of a symbol and ceremony into a 
Thing, — an immortal birth, to which Grod Himself pledged 
His word. One can see this wonderful process going on in the 
transparent, vehement spirit. Everything suffered a change 
under those shining eyes of genius and passion. From imper- 
sonal regions of thought they rose into visible revelations of 
reality. To a mind instinct with this realizing principle, the 
conception of a Second Advent nearly approaching was like 
the beginning of a new life. The thought of seeing His Lord in 
the flesh cast a certain ecstasy upon the mind of Irving. It 
quickened tenfold his already vivid apprehension of spiritual 
things. The burden of the prophetic mysteries, so often darkly 
pondered, so often interpreted in a mistaken sense, seemed to 
him, in the light of that expectation, to swell into divine cho- 
ruses of preparation for the splendid event which, with his 
own bodily eyes, undimmed by death, he hoped to behold. He 
had commenced his labours, and the studies necessarily in- 
volved in those labours, with a certain expansion of spirit, and 
power of sublimating whatever truth he touched, but no appa- 
rent divergence from ordinary belief. But years of close 
dwelling upon the sacred subjects which it was his calling to 
expound, had borne their natural fruit. Not yet had he 
diverged ; but he had expanded, intensified, opened out, in an 
almost unprecedented degree. Special truths, as he came to 
consider them, glowed forth upon his horizon with fuller and 
fuller radiance ; life and human affections seemed to go with 
the adventurer into those worlds of believed but not appreci- 
ated divinity ; and as he himself identified one by one those 
wonderful realizations, which were to him as discoveries, with 
ever a warmer and fuller voice he declared them aloud. 

Such was his state of mind in the comparatively silent, 
and in some respects transition, period to which we have now 
reached. His first sorrow did but strengthen the other in- 
fluences at work upon him, while at the same time his many 
and continual labours, acting upon his health, obliged him to 
withdraw a little from the din and excitement of his battle- 
field, and left him fuller scope for his thoughts. In his win- 
ter solitude, while his wife was absent, he had begun, more 
from benevolent motives than with any idea of making use 
of the accomplishment, to study Spanish; but, before he had 
made any great advances in the language, a manner of turning 



BEX-EZRA. 199 

the new gift to the profit of the Church came, by a complica- 
tion of causes — to his eyes clearly providential — in his way. 
A Spanish work, entitled " The Coming of the Messiah in 
Grlory and Majesty," professedly written by Juan Josafat 
Ben-Ezra, a Hebrew convert to Christianity, but in reality, 
according to the facts afterwards ascertained, the production 
of a Jesuit priest, called Lacunza, was brought to him, as he 
describes in his preface to the translation of that work, by 
friends who had been specially impressed by his own views 
on the same subject. He found in it, as he declares, " the 
hand of a master," and not only so, but " the chief work of a 
master's hand ; " and feeling assured that his Grod had sent 
this " masterpiece of reasoning " to him " at such a critical 
time, for the love of His Church, which He hath purchased 
with His blood," he resolved " to weigh well how I might 
turn the gift to profit." The result of his ponderings was r . 
that he undertook the translation of the book, concluding, 
after his fashion, that the Church was as open to receive in- 
struction, wheresoever it came from, as he himself was. Not 
very long before he had stood up against the champions of 
Catholic emancipation, taking, without a moment's hesita- 
tion, the unpopular side of the question, and declaring with 
the utmost plainness that, " though it expose me to odium in 
every form, I have no hesitation in asserting it to be my be- 
lief that when the rulers of this nation shall permit to the 
worshippers of the Beast the same honours, immunities, and 
trusts which they permit to the worshippers of the true Grod, 
that day will be the blackest in the history of our fate." But 
in the face of these uncompromising sentiments, and almost 
in a breath with the expression of them, he comes, with cha- 
racteristic candour and openness, to the feet; of the Spanish 
priest, receives his book "as a voice from the Roman Catholic 
Church," just as he claims for his own preaching to be " as 
a voice from the Kirk of Scotland," and finds it his duty to 
interpret between the Jesuit preacher and the English world. 
A better illustration of the native candour and simplicity of 
his mind could not be. Eew Protestant preachers would 
take upon themselves such an office; and those who could 
believe their own views enforced and supported by the con- 
currence of a Catholic writer, would be, according to ordinary 
rules, men of tolerant, not to say latitudinarian, principles, 
■ — not rigid upon points of difference. Of a very different 
kind was the toleration of Irving. It was not toleration at 
all, indeed, nor any modern convenience, but simple love for 
all who loved his Master's appearing, and unfailing belief in 



200 REST AND RELAXATION. 

the human utterance which speaks out of the abundance of 
men's hearts. The same voice which had just declared its 
horror at the thought of political equality for the Catholics, 
and doubtless had been anathematized as the voice of a bigot 
in consequence, declares, immediately after, the determina- 
tion of the speaker to give no Protestant comment upon the 
Jesuit's simple words. " The doctrines of the Roman Church," 
he says, " which now and then appear, are brought forward 
with so much simplicity and sincerity of faith, and so little 
in the spirit of obtrusion or controversy, that it seemed to 
me like taking an advantage of the honest, well-meaning 
man to enter the lists against him, unaccoutred as he was. 
.... Oh, no ! I had no heart to catch him tripping, or to 
expose the weakness of so dear a teacher, concerning whom I 
was continually exclaiming to the companion of my solitary 
labours, ' I hope yet, in some of my future pilgrimages, to 
meet this gray-haired saint in the flesh, and receive his bless- 
ing, while I tell him how much I love him, and have profited 
from his instructions.' " 

It was early in the year 1826, that the work of Ben-Ezra 
came into Irving' s hands, confirming and strengthening his 
heart in respect to the new revelations of doctrine which had 
already illuminated his path. He had begun his Spanish 
studies only a few months before, with the view of helping his 
friend, Giuseppe Sottomayor ; and it was not until summer 
that he undertook the translation of the book which had im- 
pressed him so deeply. He had, by this period, so exhausted 
his strength in his ordinary pastoral labours, that his congrega- 
tion became anxious about his health, and insisted on the 
necessary rest and relaxation which alone could recruit him. 
" About this time," as he himself says, " it pleased the Lord 
to stir up the greater part of my flock to exhort me by all 
means, as I valued my own health and their well-being, to 
remove a little from the bustle and intrusion of this great 
city, and abide in the country during some of the summer 
months ; and two of the brethren who loved me much en- 
gaged, unknown to me, a place in the country, where, with- 
out forsaking my charge, I might reside in peace and quiet- 
ness amidst the beauty and bounty with which Grod hath 
covered the earth. This occurring so unexpectedly, at the 
time when all concerned were soliciting me to undertake the 
whole care and responsibility of the translation, and per- 
ceiving that the work was likely to suffer from a divided 
labour, without being at all hastened, I resolved at length, 
insufficient as was my knowledge of the language at that 



BECKENHAM. 201 

time, to conquer all difficulties, and heartily to give myself to 
the Lord and to His Church during these weeks of retire- 
ment ; for I was well convinced that the health which I most 
needed was the healing waters of the Holy Spirit, which I 
thus made bold to solicit, by devoting myself to His service ; 
and certainly the labourer was not disappointed of his hire. 
I prevented the dawning of the morning, and I envied the 
setting in of the shades of evening to labour in my work ; 
and when my hands and my eyes failed me, because of weak- 
ness, the helper whom Grod hath given meet for me served me 
with hers, and so we laboured to bring this labour of love to 
completion, purposing to offer it to the Church as our 
Christmas offering. Oh, that my brethren in Christ might 
have the same divine satisfaction and unwearied delight in 
reading, that I had in translating this wonderful work ! " 

It would be difficult to add to without impairing the per- 
fection of this beautiful sketch of the summer leisure which 
Irving " gave to the Lord." The retirement of the pair, so 
wonderfully united in labour and sympathy, was at Becken- 
ham ; where, with that child of tears over whom they could 
not choose but watch with double solicitude, they lived in 
quiet, at least, if not in repose, for the greater part of the 
summer. During all this time, Irving went up to London 
every Saturday, remaining until Monday, to fulfil his usual 
laborious ministerial duties ; and in the interval laboured, as 
he has described, at the work — perhaps of all literary labours 
the most tiresome and wearing out — of this translation. Such 
was his version of relaxation and ease. He worked at it so 
closely, that he was at one time threatened with loss of sight 
in consequence — those strong out-of-doors eyes of his evi- 
dently not having been adapted by nature for poring per- 
petually over print and paper. However, he appears to have 
known the true medicine for his own case. The village quiet, 
and incidental advantages, passively enjoyed, of fresh air and 
summer greenness, comforted and refreshed his heart, as he 
sat labouring with his imperfect Spanish over the long treatise 
of Lacunza ; and, in the calm of those toils, his health re- 
turned to him. The defect in his eyes even helped him to 
find out the auxiliary which was at hand, and of which in 
after-times he largely availed himself. " I rejoice to tell you 
that Edward is very much better," writes Mrs Irving to her 
sister. " He has now made me almost entirely his amanuensis. 
I even write his discourses, which to him is a most wonder- 
ful relief. This will surprise you when you remember he 
could bear no one in the room with him ; still he can bear 



202 UNION OF THE STUDENTS OF PROPHECY. 

no one but myself; but lie can stop and give ear to my ob- 
servations." .... And the anxious mother diverges from 
this description into expressions of subdued alarm lest baby 
should have the whooping-cough, and a wife's tender admira- 
tion of her husband's increasing fondness for the child. Once 
more the strain is idyllic ; but the fond woman's letters, in 
which "dear Edward" appears as the centre of everything, 
invested with a certain impersonal perfection, do not convey 
so clear a picture out of the bosom of that domestic happi- 
ness, tranquillity, anxiety, love, and labour — the sublime but 
common course of life — as the brief words in which he him- 
self commemorates the summer scene. It was a halcyon 
moment, subdued by the touch of past sorrow, and that trem- 
bling which experience so soon brings into all mortal enjoy- 
ment, yet sweet with the more exquisite happiness which 
only those who have sorrowed and trembled together can 
snatch out of the midst of their years. 

During the summer of 1826, while Irving was busied 
with his translation, the expectation conveyed in this Spanish 
book, to which his own mind and that of many others had 
been directed, with special force and clearness, not very long 
before, seems to have swelled within the minds of all who 
held it, to such an amount of solemn excitement and in- 
quiring interest as could no longer keep silence. If the 
advent of the Lord were indeed close at hand; if events 
were visibly marching forward to that great visible era of 
doom and triumph, as so many students of prophecy con- 
curred in believing — it was but natural that a hope so extra- 
ordinary should bring the little brotherhood into a union far 
more intimate than that of mere concurrence in belief. The 
bond beween them was rather that personal and exciting one 
which exists among a party full of anxiety for the restora- 
tion or election of a king — a patriotic band of conspirators, 
furnished with all the information and communications in 
cipher which cannot be given at length to the common mass 
■ — than the calmer link between theologians united in doe- 
trine ; and indeed one wonders more at the steady pertinacity 
of human nature which could go on in all the ordinary 
habitudes of the flesh under the solemn commotion of such a 
hope, than at any kind of conference or extraordinary con- 
sultation which might be held under the circumstances. 
" A desire to compare their views with respect to the pros- 
pects of the Church at this present crisis " naturally arose 
among them, as Irving informs us in the preface to Ben- 
Ezra; and after several meetings during the summer, a 



ALBURY. — HENRY DRUMMOND. 203 

serious and lengthened conference on the subject was ar- 
ranged to take place at Albury, the residence of one of the 
most remarkable of the little prophetic parliament, the late 
Henry Drummond. 

It is unnecessary to enter into any history of this re- 
markable man, who was but the other day, in the full force 
of his wonderful individuality, taking his part in all the affairs 
of the world. That individuality was too marked and strik- 
ing to permit any calm, general opinion of the merits of a 
man who was at once a religious leader, and the patron of 
religious distress throughout the world ; an independent in- 
fluence, and most caustic critic in the British parliament ; a 
believer in all the mysteries of faith, yet a contemptuous 
denouncer of everything beyond the shadowy line which he 
recognized as dividing faith from superstition ; the temporal 
head, in some respects, of a band of religionists ; and yet a 
man in full communion with the busy world, keeping the ear 
of society, and never out of the fullest tide of life. Such a 
conjunction of character had never been witnessed before in 
his generation, and has given occasion for estimates as dif- 
ferent as are the points of view from which they are taken. 
Such as he was, all impetuous and wilful — with an arbitrary 
magnificence of disposition possible only to a man born to 
great riches, and unconscious of many of those natural 
restraints which teach most men the impossibility of putting 
their own will into full execution — Mr Drummond had from 
his youth dedicated his wealth, his wit, his unparalleled 
activity, his social position, everything he had and was, to 
the service of God, according as that appeared to his vivid 
but peculiar apprehension. Before this time he had ap- 
peared in the track of the Haldanes at Geneva, where the 
dead theological lethargy of the early Reformed Church was 
again waking into life, and had heard the Hebrew "Wolff 
questioning the Roman professors in the chambers of the 
Propaganda. Not very long before, Irving himself, a very 
different mould of man, had recorded in his journal a certain 
dissatisfaction with the perpetual external activity of the 
restless religious potentate. But this warm link of common 
belief awoke closer feelings of brotherhood. Henry Drum- 
mond, impatient, fastidious, and arbitrary, a master of con- 
temptuous expression, acting and speaking with all the sud- 
denness of an irresponsible agent, was as unlike a man as 
could possibly be supposed to the great Scotch preacher, 
with all the grand simplicity of his assumptions and tender 
brotherhood of his heart. But " they who loved His appear- 



204 THE CONFERENCE. 

ing " were united by a spell which transcended every merely 
human sympathy ; and from this time Mr Drummond ap- 
pears to have exercised a certain degree of influence, vary- 
ing, but always increasing, over the career of Irving. Their 
first point of actual conjunction appears to have been at this 
meeting of prophetical students, held at Albury. When the 
summer was over, with all its restraints of labour and 
fashion, and early winter whitened the gentle hills of Surrey, 
the grave little company assembled in that house, which has 
since given character and colour to the district round it, and 
become for one division of Christians a kind of visible Beth- 
El in the wilderness of men's houses. 

" One of our number," says Irving, in the preface already quoted, 
" well known for his princely munificence, thought well to invite by 
special letter all the men, both ministers and laymen, of any orthodox 
communion whom he knew or could ascertain to be interested in pro- 
phetic studies ; that they should assemble at his house of Albury Park, 
in Surrey, on the first day of Advent, that we might deliberate for a full 
week upon the great prophetic questions which do at present most in- 
timately concern Christendom. In answer to this honourable summons, 
there assembled about twenty men of every rank, and church, and ortho- 
dox communion in these realms ; and in honour of our meeting, God so 
ordered it that Joseph Wolff, the Jewish missionary, a son of Abraham 
and brother of our Lord, both according to flesh and according to faith, 
should also be of the number. And here, for eight days, under the roof 
of Henry Drummond, Esq., the present High Sheriff of the county, and 
under the moderation of the Rev. Hugh M'Neil, the rector of the parish 
of Albury, we spent six full days in close and laborious examination of 

the Scriptures These things I write from recollection, not caring 

to use the copious notes which I took ; for it was a mutual understand- 
ing that nothing should go forth from the meeting with any stamp of 
authority, that the Church might not take offence, as if we had assumed 
to ourselves any name or right in the Church. But there was such a 
sanction given to these judgments by the fulness, freeness, and harmony 
which prevailed in the midst of partial and minor differences of opinion ; 
by the spirit of prayer and love and zeal for God's glory and the Church's 
good ; by the sweet temper and large charity which were spread abroad ; 
and by the common consent that God was in a very remarkable way 
present with us — that I deem it my duty to make known these great 
results to the Christian churches which I have thus so early an oppor- 
tunity of addressing. 

" Having said so much, I think it to be my duty further to state 
the godly order and arrangement according to which the Albury con- 
ference, concerning the second Advent, was conducted ; for to this, 
under God, I attribute in no small degree the abundance of blessings 
with which our souls were made glad. We set apart a day for each 
subject, and resolved to give no more than one day to each ; and as we 
were but six free days assembled, having met on the Thursday and 



A SCHOOL OF PROPHETS. 205 

parted on the Friday of the week following, we joined the fourth and 
seventh subjects together, conceiving them to be closely connected with 
one another; and having apportioned a separate subject to each day, we 
proceeded to each day's work after the following method : we divided 
the labour of each day into three parts — a morning diet before break- 
fast, the second and principal diet between breakfast and dinner, and 
the third in the evening. The object of our morning diet, to which we 
assembled at eight o'clock precisely — as early as we could well see — ■ 
was twofold : first, to seek the Lord for the light, wisdom, patience, 
devotion to His glory, communion of saints, and every other gift and 
grace of the Holy Spirit which was necessary and proper to the labour 
which was that day appointed us in God's good providence ; this office 
was always fulfilled by a minister of the gospel. Secondly, one of the 
number was appointed over night, and sometimes several nights before, 
to open the subject of the day in an orderly and regular way, taking all 
his grounds of argument, and substantiating all his conclusions out of 
the Holy Scriptures ; and while he thus proceeded, the rest of the 
brethren took down the substance of what he said, and noted down the 
texts from which he reasoned ; for we sat in the library around a large 
table, provided with every convenience for writing and for consulting 
the Holy Scriptures. When the outlines and divisions and whole 
groundwork of the subject were thus laid out by the brother, strength- 
ened by our prayers, we parted without at that time declaring anything, 
and refreshed ourselves with breakfast, where we met the pious and 
honourable lady and family of our worthy host. Two full hours were 
allowed from the breaking up of the morning till the assembling of the 
midday diet, which was at eleven o'clock, in order that the brethren 
might each try and prove himself before the Lord upon the great 
questions at issue, and that we might come together with convictions, 
not with uncertain persuasions, and speak from the conscience, not from 
present impressions. And when we assembled, and had shortly sought 
the Divine favour to continue with us, an office generally performed by 
our reverend Moderator, he proceeded in due course to ask each man 
for his convictions upon the subject which had been laid before us in 
the morning ; and the rest diligently used their pen in catching the 
spirit of what dropped from each other's lips. No appeal was allowed 
but to the Scriptures, of which the originals lay before us ; in the in- 
terpretation of which, if. any question arose, we had the most learned 
Eastern scholar perhaps in the world to appeal to, and a native Hebrew 
■ — I mean Joseph Wolff. In this way did every man proceed to lay out 
the nature and ground of his convictions, which was done with so much 
liberty, and plentifulness, and mutual respect and reverence of the Holy 
Word, as much to delight our souls. Now this diet lasted oft four, 
and sometimes almost five hours, — our aim being to gather the opinions 
of every one before we parted ; and when we tired, we refreshed our- 
selves with prayer, which also we regarded as our main defence against 
Satan. This diet also we closed with an offering of thanksgiving by any 
of the clerical brethren whom the Moderator might pitch upon. After 
dinner we again proceeded, about seven o'clock, to the work of winding 
up and concluding the whole subject ; but in a more easy and familiar 
manner* as being seated round the fire of the great library-room, yet 



206 ANTICHRIST. 

still looking to a moderator, and with the same diligent attention to 
order, each seeming desirous to record everything that was said. This 
went on by the propounding of any question or difficulty which had 
occurred during the day, addressed to him who had opened the subject, 
or to any other able to resolve it : and so we proceeded till towards 
eleven o'clock, when the whole duties of the day were concluded by the 
singing of a hymn, and the offering up of an evening prayer. Such 
were the six days we spent under the holy and hospitable roof of Albury 
House, within the chime of the church bell, and surrounded by the 
most picturesque and beautiful forms of nature. But the sweetest spot 
was that council-room where I met the servants of the Lord — the wise 
virgins waiting with oil in their lamps for the Bridegroom; and a 
sweeter still was that secret chamber where I met in the spirit my 
Lord and Master, whom I hope soon to meet in the flesh." 

And upon this the warm emotions of the preacher burst 
forth into verse — verse less melodious and full of poetry than his 
ordinary diction, but not less the expression of those high- 
pitched and lyrical climaxes of feeling which naturally find ut- 
terance in rhythm and cadence. The narrative, however, which 
Irving gives in such detail, redeems the singular assembly out 
of that oblivion into which it and its proceedings have since 
fallen. "What their deliberations were, or the results of them, 
is neither important to this history, nor is the present writer 
qualified to enter into such a subject. They who had set their 
chiefest hopes upon the personal appearance of our Lord, at a 
period which some actually fixed, and all regarded as close at 
hand, looked also, as a necessary preliminary of that appearance, 
for a personal development of evil, more remarkable and decided 
than anything that had preceded it ; and had so identified and 
concluded upon the source from which this Antichrist was to 
come, that the ruin of the First Napoleon, and the death of his 
harmless and unfortunate son, had so much effect upon one, at 
least, of the disappointed expounders of prophecy, as, when fact 
could no longer be contradicted, to bring an illness upon him. 
This gentleman, as common rumour reports, first declared that 
it could not be, and then "took to his bed" in dire disappoint- 
ment and distress. 

This meeting, Irving tells us, delayed the completion and 
sublication of the book which had cost him so much toil ; but it 
was after all only the January of 1827, when that laborious per- 
formance, with the long preface, which occupies half of an 
octavo volume, and is one of his finest and most characteristic 
productions, was " offered to the Church." I can find no 
evidence of the amount of favour which Ben-Ezra and his 
work attained in the Church ; but the translator's preface has 
been often quoted, and was re-printed in a separate form, along 



OPENING OF NATIONAL SCOTCH CHURCH. 207 

with some other of Irving's shortest and least-known publica- 
tions, a few years ago, by some of his admirers in Glasgow. 

Early in 1827, the church in E-egent Square — over the 
building of which Irving and his congregation had watched so 
lovingly, and which was to deliver them from the crowds and 
commotion of the little Caledonian Chapel — -was at last com- 
pleted. At the time of its erection, it was considered the 
handsomest church not belonging to the Establishment (for 
the Presbyterians of that day, proud of their National Church, 
and connection with the Scotch Establishment, would have done 
anything sooner than allow themselves to be called Dissent- 
ers) in London. One thousand sittings were taken at the 
time of its opening ; and the excellent "William Hamilton 
writes, in all the pious joy of a church official, about the " grati- 
fying success" which had attended the opening services, at 
which Dr Chalmers officiated. " Dr Chalmers," writes Mr 
Hamilton, sending the newspapers which contained an account 
of these services, along with his own joyful description, to his 
future wife, the sister-in-law of Irving, in Kirkcaldy manse, 
"was so highly pleased with his stay among us, that he 
spontaneously offered to pay us an annual visit. He has 
complied with our request to publish the sermon he preached 
at the opening, which contained a powerful defence of our 
excellent pastor, and a most eloquent eulogium on his extra- 
ordinary talents, piety, and worth, which was not a little gra- 
tifying to the congregation, but gall and wormwood to some 
of his enemies who were present." On the evening of the same 
Sunday, Dr Gordon of Edinburgh, another old and tried friend 
of Irving, preached ; and with the highest auguries of increase 
and prosperity — relieved from the inconveniences of popu- 
larity, which they had felt so deeply, and able at last to 
appear, not in relays, but as a body together, — the congrega- 
tion into which the fifty worshippers of Hatton Garden had 
grown entered into quiet possession of the handsome church 
for which they had laboured and longed. " Both Dr Gordon and 
Dr Chalmers," says the affectionate witness we have just quoted, 
" love our friend, and bore a noble testimony to him in public 
and in private wherever they went Our session now con- 
sists of seven elders and seven deacons — all, I believe, sincerely 
devoted to the good cause ; and I am happy to say that the most 
perfect harmony prevails amongst us, and indeed throughout 
the congregation." 

Such were the domestic circumstances of the community 
over which Irving presided. Inspired by his fervid teaching, 



208 UNANIMITY OF THE CONGREGATION. 






they believed themselves established there to carry out " a work 
which is likely to be the means, in God's hand, of greatly ad- 
vancing the spiritual interests of our countrymen in the me- 
tropolis." By this time already many of the sermons which 
were afterwards found out to be heretical, had been preached 
and listened to with equal unconsciousness of any divergence 
from the orthodox faith ; and the unanimity of regard and ad- 
miration with which the people clung to their leader had been 
as yet rather strengthened than diminished by anything that 
had been alleged against him. The long services, in which he 
would not be curtailed ; his perpetual determination, notwith- 
standing the overflowing of human kindness in his heart, to be 
among them the priest, the pastor, the spiritual guide, and not 
the companion and friend alone ; the high position he assumed, 
and the uncompromising distinctness of his attacks upon all 
the special forms of evil, had neither lessened the confidence 
nor weakened the affection of his adherents. People who 
steadily, and not capriciously according to the dictates of 
fashion, resorted to the teaching of a man who kept them 
nearly three hours at a stretch, Sunday after Sunday, plunged 
in the deepest questions of religion — sometimes maintained the 
strain of an argument which ascended into the secret places of 
the Trinity, unfathomable mystery — sometimes stirred with 
appeals and exhortations which excited the multitude into all 
but open outcry, must indeed have been under the sway of a 
fascination seldom exercised, and of which few men know the 
secret. The thousand souls, who at its earliest commencement 
declared their allegiance to the preacher in his new church, had 
suffered this test of their sincerity ; and were unanimous, har- 
monious, objecting neither to his long sermons, nor to his 
orthodoxy. But other sentiments had begun to dawn upon 
other men. 

Dr Chalmers, always doubtful, puzzled, but admiring, never 
knowing what to make of this genius, which he could not 
choose but acknowledge, yet which was so different from his 
own, and in some respects so incomprehensible to it — Dr 
Chalmers writes from London to his wife, with the same half- 
wondering, half-comprehending regard which was visible in 
almost everything he said of Irving, as follows : — 

" 7th May. — Mr Irving made his appearance and took me to his house, 
where I drank tea. Mr Miller and Mr Maclean, Scottish ministers of 
the London Presbytery, were there. Their talk is very much of meet- 
ings and speeches. Irving, though, is very impressive, and I do like the 
force and richness of his conversation Studied about two hours, 



IRVING KEEPS CHALMERS WAITING. 209 

and then proceeded to take a walk with James. * We had just gone out 
when we met Mr Irving. He begged of James the privilege of two or 
three hours in his house, to study a sermon. I was vastly tickled with 
this new instance of the inroads of Scotsmen ; however, James could not 
help himself, and was obliged to consent. W e were going back to a family 
dinner, and I could see the alarm that was felt on the return of the great 
Mr Irving, who was very easily persuaded to join us at dinner, and the 
study was all put to flight. There was not a single sentence of study 

all the time ; and notwithstanding Mrs C 's alarm about the 

shabbiness of the dinner, everything went on most delightfully. Irving 
intermingled the serious and the gay, took a good, hearty repast, ana 
really charmed even James himself, so that I was very glad of the inroad 
that had been made upon him. Thursday. — Irving and I went to Bedford 
Square. Mr and Mrs Montagu took us out in their carriage to High- 
gate, where we spent three hours with the great Coleridge. His conversa- 
tion flowed in a mighty unremitting stream. You know that Irving sits at 
his feet, and drinks in the inspiration of every syllable that falls from him. 
There is a secret and, to me, unintelligible communion of spirit between 
them, on the ground of a certain German mysticism, and transcendental 
lake poetry which I am not yet up to. Friday. — Mr Irving conducted the 
preliminary services in the National Church. There was a prodigious 
want of tact in the length of his prayers — forty minutes ; and altogether 
it was an hour and a half from the commencement of the service ere I 
began. .... The dinner took place at five o'clock. Many speeches. 
Irving certainly errs in the outrunning of sympathy. 

The length of this preliminary service seems to have troubled 
the great Scotch preacher mightily. He appears to have felt, 
with true professional disgust, the wearing out of that audience 
which properly belonged, not to Irving, but to himself. Long 
after, he recurs to the same incident in a conversation with 
Mr J. J. Grurney. " I undertook to open Irving's new church 
in London," says the discontented divine. " The congregation, 
in their eagerness to obtain seats, had already been assembled 
three hours. Irving said he would assist me by reading a 
chapter for me. He chose the longest in the Bible, and went on 
for an hour and a half. On another occasion he offered me the 
same aid, adding, ' I can be short.' I said, ' How long will it 
take you ? ' ' Only an hour and forty minutes.' " 

Such an indiscretion was likely to go to the heart of the 
waiting preacher. Dr Chalmers never seems to have forgotten 
that impatient interval, during which he had to sit by silent, 
and see his friend take the bloom of expectation off the audi- 
ence, which had come not to hear Irving, but Chalmers. In 

* A brother of Doctor Chalmers, noted, as all the readers of his biography 
will remember, for a certain kind churlishness, and special terror of the en- 
croachments of Scotch visitors, and the universal entertainment and intro- 
ductory letters required by them. 



210 DK, CHALMERS SHAKES HIS HEAD. 

all his after-remarks, a reminiscence of his own sore experience 
recurs. On the following Saturday, he records that " Mr 
Gordon informed me that yesternight Mr Irving preached on 
his prophecies at Hackney chapel for two hours and a half ; 
and though very powerful, yet the people were dropping away. 
I really fear lest his prophecies, and the excessive length and 
weariness of his services, may unship him altogether, and I 
mean to write to him seriously on the subject." 

This was the impression of a stranger, unaware of the long 
training by which Irving had accustomed his people to these 
prolonged addresses ; and also of an elder, and — so far as ex- 
perience went — superior in the Church, who was slow to for- 
get that " the great Mr Irving " had once been his own name- 
less assistant and subordinate. "With dissatisfied and doubtful 
eyes, the celebrated Scotch preacher contemplated the appa- 
rently brilliant and encouraging position of his friend. The 
practicable, which did not trouble Irving, was strongly present 
in the mind of Chalmers. He, with both feet planted steadily 
on the common soil, cast a troubled eye upon the soaring spirit 
which scorned the common restraints of possibility. He shakes 
his head as he tells his wife of the mingled fascination and im- 
prudence visible to himself in this incomprehensible man. Chal- 
mers, too, was capable of following one idea with the most ab- 
sorbing enthusiasm ; but his ideas were those of statesmanship, 
practicable, and to be worked out ; and with the eyes of a wisdom 
which, if not worldly, was at least substantial, and fully aware 
of all the restrictions of humanity, he looked on doubtfully at a 
man who calculated no possibilities, and who estimated the capa- 
cities of humannature, not from among the levels of ordinary life, 
but from the mountain-top of his own elevated and impassioned 
spirit. Dr Chalmers shook his head. What else could a man 
of reason and ordinary prudence do ? Nothing could be cer- 
tainly predicated of such a career as that which, under changed 
circumstances, made now a new, and to all appearance, pros- 
perous beginning. Triumph or ruin might be beyond ; scarcely 
the steady progress and congregational advancement, which is 
the only advancement in life open to the hopes of an orthodox 
Scotch minister. Such a progress, happy but uneventful — a 
yearly roll of additional members, perhaps a hundred pounds 
or so of additional income, a recognized place on the platform 
of Exeter Hall — was not a natural vaticination of the future 
course of Edward Irving ; and over anything else, what could 
Chalmers — what could any other sober-minded clerical specta- 
tor do otherwise than shake his head r Something was like to 
come of it too far out of the ordinary course to yield ordinary 



IMPORTANT CRISIS. 211 

comfort or happiness ; and I don't doubt that Chalmers re- 
turned to Scotland alarmed and uneasy, comprehending as little 
what would be the end, as he entered into the thoughts and 
emotions which were bringing that end about. 

And, indeed, it was a crisis of no small importance. Up 
to this time, the preacher and his congregation had been in 
exceptional circumstances. They had never been able to make 
experiment of that calm congregational existence. Crowded 
out of the little Caledonian Chapel for years, their hopes had 
gone forward to that new church which was to be a kind of 
national centre in the noisy capital, and the completion of which 
was to open the way to a great and extended mission. It was 
only natural that all the projects and hopes both of leader and 
people should fix upon that place as the scene of result and 
issue to their great labours. Doubtless they did so unawares. 
For years the preacher had been used to see round him an un- 
usual exceptional crowd, drawn out of all regions, necessarily 
unsteady and fluctuating — a crowd which he could charm and 
thrill and overawe for the moment, but out of which few results 
could be visible. Now was the time to test what had been done 
in that flattering overflow of popular admiration. If, as Carlyle 
says, " hopes of a new moral reformation" had fired the preach- 
er's heart — if, with the flattered expectation of a popular idol, 
he was watching to see the " sons of Mammon, and high sons of 
Belial and Beelzebub, become sons of Grod, and the gum-flowers 
of Almack's to be made living roses in a new Eden" — now was 
the time to test that dream. The tiny chapel where celebrities 
could not be overlooked, and where the crowd never could 
lessen — first chapter and preparatory stage of the history — was 
now left in the quiet of the past ; and with full space to collect 
and receive all who sought him, and the highest expectations and 
hopes of now seeing the fruits of his labour, Irving entered that 
new temple, whence a double blessing was to descend upon his 
people's prayers. If fashion had crazed him with her moment- 
ary adulation, here was the critical point at which fashions and 
he parted ; the beginning of a disenchantment which, next to 
personal betrayal, is perhaps the hardest experience in the world. 

This has been accepted by many — and asserted by one who 
knew him thoroughly, and from whose judgment I know not 
how to presume to differ — as the secret cause of all the darker 
shadows and perplexing singularities of his later life. I am, 
as little able to cope with Mr Carlyle in philosophic insight 
as I am in personal knowledge ; I can only take my appeal to 
Irving himself in the singular journal which has already been 
given. If that record shows any trace of a man whose heart 



212 REALITY. 

has been caught in the meshes of the social enchantress ; if he 
looks to have Circe's cup in his hand as he goes pondering 
through those streets of Bloomsbury and Pentonville, or with 
anxious care and delicacy visits the doubtful believer in Fleet 
Market, and comforts the sorrowful souls who seek bis kindness 
in the nameless lanes of the city, I am willing to allow that 
this was the influence that set his mind astray. But if the 
readers of this history are as unable as myself to perceive any 
trace of that intoxication — an intoxication too well known in 
all its symptoms, and too often seen to be recognized with diffi- 
culty — another clue may be reasonably required for this mys- 
tery. I can find no evidence whatever, except in what he him- 
self says in the dedication of his Sermons to Mr Basil Montagu, 
of even a tendency on Irving's part to be carried away by that 
brilliant social stream. He speaks of himself there as "being 
tempted to go forth, in the simplicity of my heart, into those high 
and noble circles of society which were then open to me, and which 
must either have engulfed me by their enormous attractions, 
or else repelled my simple affections, shattered and befooled, 
to become the mockery and contempt of every envious and 
disappointed railer." But that was at the earliest period of 
his London experience. The master of the Pentonville house- 
hold, with all its quaint and simple economics, with its do- 
mestic services, frequented not by the great, and its stream of 
homely guests — the faithful priest, exercising all the human 
courtesies and Christian tendernesses of his nature to win a 
sullen London errand-boy, or convince a sceptic of the humblest 
ranks — who is not to be moved by the representations even of 
his anxious elders to shorten his services by half-an-hour, or 
adapt himself to the necessities of his popularity, — is, on his 
own evidence, the most unlike a man carried away and crazed 
by the worship of Fashion that can be conceived. If he had 
been such a man, here was the sickening moment when the 
syren visibly went her way. The crowd that fluctuated in the 
tiny aisles of the Caledonian Chapel, and presented the preacher 
with a wonderful, suggestive, moving panorama of the great 
world without, which he addressed through these thronged 
and ever- changing faces, settled into steady identity in Eegent 
Square. The throng ceased in that spacious interior. Those 
mists of infinitude cleared off from the permanent horizon — 
" Fashion went her idle way," Mr Carlyle says : indisputably 
the preacher must have learned that he was no longer address- 
ing the world, the nation, the great capital of the world, but a 
certain clearly definable number of its population — a congre- 
gation, in short, and not an age. 



CESSATION OF THE CROWD. 213 

This great change happened to Irving at the moment when 
he had apparently arrived at the beginning of his harvest-time. 
The office-bearers of his church found the fruit they sought in 
the roll of seat-holders and communicants, the visible increase 
which had promoted them from the Caledonian Chapel to the 
National Scotch church. But to the preacher the effect must 
have been wonderfully different — as different as reality always 
is from expectation. At the end of that uncertain, brilliant 
probation which seemed to promise results the most glorious, 
he woke and found himself at the head of a large congregation. 
It was all his friends could have wished for him — the highest 
amount of external success which his Church acknowledged. 
But it was an indifferent climax to the lofty hopes of the great 
evangelist. Tet this great shock and crisis seems to have been 
encountered and got through unconsciously, with no such effects 
as might have been anticipated. There is, indeed, no evidence 
that Irving was himself aware when he passed out of that wide 
horizon of hope and possibility, into the distinct field laid out 
for him under the smoky canopy of London sky. Tet here is 
the evident point when that transition happened. The wide 
popular current ebbed away from the contracted ways of Hat- 
ton Garden, and subsided into a recognisable congregation in 
Eegent Square. " The church was always well filled, but no 
longer crowded," says the calm official retrospect of the present 
community belonging to that church. Eashion then and there 
took her departure ; but so far from plunging into wild attempts 
to re-attract her fickle devotion, the preacher seems to have 
gone on unconscious, without even being aware of what had 
happened to him. Tears intervened, and the fervent beginnings 
of thought — then only appearing in a firmament where the hid- 
den lights came out one by one, all unforeseen by the eager gazer 
till they startled him with sudden illuminations — came to de- 
velopments never unaccordant with the nature that produced 
them, though mysterious and often sad enough to the calm 
looker-on, before the world which had subsided out of its frenzy 
of admiration was tempted to return into a frenzy of curiosity 
and wonder. In the meantime, Irving's sober-minded Scottish 
friends left him in his new beginning with alarms and uneasy 
forebodings, not that he would peril his understanding in at- 
tempts to retain his popularity, but that the' unmanageable 
sublimation and prophet-spirit of the man, inaccessible as 
they felt it to all such motives, would ruin his popularity alto- 
gether. 

Some years before two silver salvers had been presented to 
Irving by the grateful office-bearers of the Scotch church in 



214 irving's offering. 

Liverpool. "When the National Scotch church was opened, he 
presented them, with an impulse of natural munificence, for the 
service of the house of God. Everybody at all acquainted with 
the usages of the Church of Scotland must be aware of the col- 
lection made weekly at the doors of every place of worship — a 
collection entirely voluntary, yet so thorough " an institution," 
that, to an old-fashioned Scotsman, the fact of passing " the 
plate " without depositing a coin in it, would be something like 
a petty crime. The fund thus collected is entitled the Session 
Fund, and is in parish churches appropriated to the relief of the 
poor ; and it was from this fund alone that Chalmers, in the day 
of his reign in Glasgow, provided for the poor of his parish, and 
•abolished pauperism in St John's. Irving designed his silver 
salvers for the reception of this weekly bounty, and presented 
them to the church on the day of its opening, engraven with 
the following inscription : — 

" These two plates I send to the National Scotch church, London, 
on this the 11th of May, 1827, the day of its opening, that they may 
stand on each side of the door to receive the offerings for the Poor, and 
all other gifts of the congregation of the Lord in all time coming while 
He permits. And if at any time, which God forbid, the fountain of the 
people's charity should be dried up, and the Poor of the Lord's house 
be in want of bread, or His house itself under any restraint of debt, I 
appoint that they shall be melted into shillings and sixpences, for the re- 
lief of the same, so far as they will go. 

"Edward Irving, A.M.,V.D.M. 
" Minister of the National Scotch Church, London." 

Irving's purpose, I am sorry to say, was not carried out. 
The elders, more prudent and less splendid than he, imagined 
or discovered that the show of the silver at the door of the 
church, even though watched over by two of their members, 
would be too great a temptation to the clever thieves about. 
Irving' s salvers were altogether withdrawn from the office of 
receiving the pennies and sixpences of the congregation, and 
were placed, where they still remain, among the communion 
plate of the church in Regent Square. 

The only public appearance which he is recorded to have made 
at this period was at one of the field days of the long and warm 
intestine war which at that time was raging in the Bible Society. 
The conduct of that Society generally had not been agreeable to 
Irving. Going to the meetings of its London Committee as to 
the assembling of a body of men engaged in the service of re- 
ligion, he had been at once chilled and startled by the entirely 
secular nature of their proceedings. When he remonstrated, 



A MAY MEETING. 215 

lie was answered that they were not missionaries, but book- 
sellers ; and this was doubtless one of the points at which the 
vulgar husiness and bustling secularity of the religious world 
disgusted a man who had nothing whatever to do with a mere 
community of booksellers, nor could understand why the 
Church's interest should be specially claimed for such. His in- 
dignation and protest on this point, however, were private ; the 
controversy was a public one, and had now lasted for many 
years. The question was whether or not the Apocrypha should 
be issued along with the canonical Scriptures as a part of the 
Bible, which the Society professed themselves commissioned to 
spread throughout the world. The warmest interest had been 
excited in religious circles generally, and especially in Scotland, 
by this dispute. North of the Tweed the Apocrypha has always 
been held in particular abhorrence, and the idea of supporting, 
by their labours and subscriptions, a Society which sent forth 
this spurious revelation along with the canon of Scripture, 
roused the pugnacious kingdom into a blaze of displeasure and 
resistance. The Society at its head-quarters stood out stoutly ; 
why, it seems impossible to find out, unless by an instinct of 
self-assertion and controversy ; and it was not until the whole 
community was in commotion, and a serious secession threaten- 
ed, that the London Committee came to its senses. Just at 
the moment when it was about to do so, at the Anniversary 
Meeting held in May, 1827, Irving made his appearance in the 
place of meeting. His entrance created a commotion which in- 
terrupted the business — the general public, apparently, having 
by this time come to understand that this man could not be re- 
garded with calm impartiality, but must either be loved or 
hated. The tumult raised on his appearance naturally aroused 
the orator to assert himself, and, independently of the timid 
authority of the chair, to make himself heard. It is difficult, in 
the vague account given, to find out what " motion " it was that 
Irving supported, or what was accomplished by the forgotten 
assembly, whose cheers and hisses would have long ago passed 
into oblivion, but for the presence of that unusual champion. 
With a straightforward manfulness and simplicity which look 
quaint and out of place upon such a platform, and which must 
have "been wonderfully confusing to the minds of the Society, 
he advises them to " acknowledge that they are exceedingly 
sorry." And when this suggestion is received with mingled 
hisses and applause, he indignantly asks, " Is there any mem- 
ber of the Church of England — is there any consistent Protest- 
ant Dissenter — who would think it at all degrading to him to 
acknowledge himself in error when he felt he was so, and when 



216 A MOMENT OF DEPRESSION. 

so doing would heal the wounds which had been inflicted there- 
by, and so unite a whole Christian Church to the Society ? 
Would it be at all degrading to the Committee to say that it 
was sorry that that which is not the Word of God had been 
(say unwittingly, or unwarily, I mind not the word) mixed up 
and circulated with the Book of God ? Let them, I say, record 
that which they have individually expressed by word of mouth 
— that that which is not the Bread of Life has been sent out to 
the world as the Bread of Life, and that they are sorry ! " The 
answer which the Bible Society or its Committee gave to this 
appeal is not recorded. But Irving triumphantly overcame 
the opposition against his own appearance, and retired from the 
meeting, which he did immediately after his speech, amid uni- 
versal applause. 

In the meantime, his private family story went on, amid the 
clouds which, having once descended, so often continue to over- 
shadow the early history of a household. In the same spring, 
another infant, a short-lived little Mary, came to a house sad- 
dened by the long and serious illness of the mother. In the 
depression occasioned by this interruption of domestic com- 
fort, Irving writes, in a mood certainly not habitual, but from 
which such a temperament as his can never be severed : 

" Eor myself, I feel the burden of sin so heavily, and the unprofitable- 
ness of this vexed life, that I long to be delivered from it, and would 
gladly depart when the Lord may please : yet, while He pleaseth, I am 
glad to remain for His Church's sake. What I feel for myself, I feel 
for my dear wife, whom I love as myself. And at present my rejoicing 
is, that she is able to praise Him in the furnace of trial and the fire of 
affliction." 

The little Mary died in December of the same year. Though 
the second blow does not seem to have struck like the first, it 
deepened the channel of those personal tears first wrung from 
Irving's eyes by the death of his little Edward ; and quickened 
into pathetic adoration his thankfulness for the almost revelation, 
as he believed it, which had thrown light upon that doctrine of 
Baptism, henceforth to be held as one of the brightest comfort- 
ing inspirations of his life. The volume of Lectures on Baptism, 
in which he set before the Church the views which had been so 
consolatory to his own heart, was prefaced by a touching dedi- 
cation : 

" To Isabella Irving, my wife, and the mother of my two 
departed children." 

The volumes thus inscribed were not published till 1828 ; 
but they belong to this period of much quiet, but many emotions,, 



ORDINATION CHARGE. 217 

which lay between the death of his two children. He laboured 
much, and pondered more, during these two years. They were 
the seed-time of a great and melancholy harvest ; and, contain- 
ing, as they did, the first germs of those convictions which he 
afterwards carried so far, and the adjuncts of which carried him 
still farther, they are full of interest in the history of his life. 
The Albuiy conference, which drew him into the close and ex- 
citing intercourse of a brotherhood engrossed with hopes and 
expectations unshared by the common world, and the opening of 
his church, which brought him suddenly out of the brilliant, in- 
definite world of possibility into a certain position, restricted 
by visible limits of the real, were, perhaps, equally operative in 
preparing his mind for all that dawned upon it. "What that 
was, and how it began to develope, may be better treated in an- 
other chapter. 

One of the most noble pieces of oratory which Irving ever 
produced, — the Ordination Charge, which reads like an ode of 
the most thrilling and splendid music, — was delivered in this 
spring at the ordination of the Eev. Hugh Maclean to the 
charge of the Scots church, London "Wall. It is a kind of 
satisfaction to know that the man so magnificently addressed 
— in a strain to which, perhaps no Scotch minister, and few 
priests of any description, have ever been called to listen — had 
soul enough to follow the leader, who charged him to his duty 
as one hero might another, out into the conflicts and troubles 
of his after-life. Such an appeal must have thrilled to the 
heart of any man capable of being moved to high emotions. I 
am not aware that any similar ode has ever embellished the or- 
dination service of any other church than that which Irving 
here describes as "the most severe and uncompromising" of all 
Christian churches. It is an unrivalled outburst, full of all the 
lyric varieties and harmonies of a great poem, and must have 
fallen with startling effect upon the commonplace ears of a 
quiet company of ministers, no man among whom, except the 
speaker, had ever distinguished himself, or had a chance of dis- 
tinguishing himself. Such an address might have given a 
climax to the vocation of a heaven-born preacher ; but it is 
only the genius capable of being roused to the utmost by such 
an appeal that is ever able to offer it ; and the heroic strain 
called forth no answering wonder. But the young preacher to 
whom it was addressed threw his humble fortunes, in after- 
days, into the same lot as that of his instructor in the office 
of the ministry ; and one feels a certain comfort in knowing 
that the disciple was faithful to the master who had connected 



218 VAUGHAN OF LEICESTER. 

his unknown name with an address which inferred such noble 
qualities in him who could receive it. 

Later in the year, Irving made a short visit to Leicester, 
to see his friend Mr Vaughan, with whom, and with " some 
other ministers of the Church of England there," we hear that 
" he had some delightful intercourse." " He was expressing to 
me yesterday," writes William Hamilton, " how much he had 
been gratified by the harmony which prevailed, and the exact 
coincidence of their views on almost all the important points 
which they discussed." The same writer goes on to tell how 
Irving had visited with him the families under his own charge 
as an elder, and of " the cordial reception they everywhere met 
with." " Mr Irving is very happy and successful on these oc- 
casions," writes his admiring friend, " and it is very delightful 
to see such harmony and good feeling amongst the members." 
Thus, undeterred by the many absorbing subjects of thought 
which were rising to his mind — by the engrossing prophetical 
studies which Dr Chalmers feared would " unship him altoge- 
ther " — or even by the impatience and almost disgust which 
often assailed his own spirit in sight of the indifferent and un- 
impressible world, he pursued all the varieties of his immediate 
duty, carrying through it all a certain elevation and lofty tone 
which never interfered with the human loving-kindness in 
which all his brethren had a share. Notwithstanding his un- 
sparing condemnation of evil and worldliness, Irving had so 
much of the " celestial light " in his eyes, that he unconsci- 
ously assigned to everybody he addressed a standing-ground in 
some degree equal to his own. The "vision splendid" at- 
tended him not only through his morning course, but through- 
out all bis career. The light around him never faded into the 
light of common day. Unawares he addressed the ordinary 
individuals about him as if they, too, were heroes and princes ; 
— charged the astounded yet loyal-hearted preacher, who could 
but preach, and visit, and do the other quiet duties of an ordi- 
nary minister, to be at once an apostle, a gentleman, and a 
scholar ; — made poor, astonished women, in tiny London apart- 
ments, feel themselves ladies in the light of his courtesy ; — and 
unconsciously elevated every man he talked with into the ideal 
man he ought to have been. This glamour in his eyes had 
other effects, melancholy enough to contemplate ; but even 
though it procured him trouble and suffering, I cannot find it in 
my heart to grudge Irving a gift so noble. The harm that comes 
by such means is neutralized by a power of conferring dignity 
and happiness, possessed by very few in the common world. 



SERMONS ON THE TRINITY. 219 

CHA.PTEE XIII. 

1828. 

The year 1828 commenced amid those domestic shadows, and 
had not progressed far before the public assaults, in which Ir- 
ving's life was henceforward to be passed, began. In the early 
beginning of the year he had prepared for publication three 
volumes of his collected sermons ; the first volume setting forth 
the very heart and essence of his teaching, his lofty argument 
and exposition of the Trinity, and its combined action in the 
redemption of man; the second, his conception of the manner 
of applying Divine truth as symbolized in the Parable of the 
Sower ; and the third, his views on national and public sub- 
jects. When this work, however, was all but ready for the 
press, one of the spies of orthodoxy hit upon a grand and un- 
thought of heresy, in the splendid expositions which the con- 
gregation had received without a suspicion, and which Irving 
himself had preached with the fullest conviction that the senti- 
ments he uttered were believed by all orthodox Christians. Up 
to this period his works had been arraigned before less solemn 
tribunals ; failures in taste, confusion of metaphors, and an in- 
comprehensible and undiminishable popularity, which no attack 
could lessen, and which piqued the public oracles, had been 
brought against him, one time or another, by almost every 
publication in the kingdom. But even when a man is fully 
convicted of being more eloquent and less cautious than his 
neighbours, when he is proved to fascinate the largest audiences, 
and utter the boldest denunciations, and give the most daunt- 
less challenges to all opponents, with the additional aggravations 
of a remarkable person, and some peculiarities of appearance, 
these things are still not enough to make him a heretic. 

The religious world had long been shy of a man so imprac- 
ticable ; but yet had been forced, by way of availing itself of 
his genius and popularity, to afford him still its countenance, 
and still to ask anniversary sermons, though with fear and 
trembling, from the greatest orator of the time. These anni- 
versary sermons, however, were so little to be depended upon 
■ — were so much occupied with the truth, and so little with the 
occasion, or the subscription lists — that he was not, and could 
not be, popular among the religious managers and committee 
people, who make a business of the propagation of the gospel. 
He was a man of a different fashion from their favourite model, 



220 UNCONSCIOUS OF ANY DOUBT UPON THE SUBJECT. 

by no means to be brought into conformity with it ; and they 
regarded him afar off with jealous eyes. At last the inevitable 
collision occurred. Irving's sermons on the Trinity were ut- 
tered to an audience so unaware of any error in them that, by 
special desire of the office-bearers of the congregation, they 
were placed first in the volumes which their author prepared as 
a complete manifestation of his varied labours. The sermons 
themselves had been preached some years before ; they are 
mentioned in Eraser's Magazine, in the eloge pronounced upon 
him after his death, as having been first delivered in Hatton 
Gi-arden, where no man hinted heresy ; and Irving himself de- 
scribes the gradual composition of several of them in his 
journal-letters in 1825 ; they were not, however, ready for 
publication till the beginning of the year 1828 ; and seem to have 
been selected in all simplicity, and, as the preface relates, with no 
controversial meaning, " as being designed for the instruction of 
the church committed to my ministerial and pastoral care, of 
whom I knew not that any one entertained a doubt upon that 
great head of Christian faith." These sermons, though of a 
very different character from those bursts of "bold and splendid 
oratory by which the preacher had made his great reputation, 
are perhaps more remarkable than any of his other productions. 
How any man could carry a large audience breathless through 
those close and lofty arguments, and lead them into the solemn 
courts of heaven to trace the eternal covenant there, preserv- 
ing the mighty strain of intelligence and attention through 
hours of steadfast soaring into the ineffable mysteries, is a 
question which I find it hard to solve. But he seems to have 
done it ; and all unaware of the fact that underneath, in the 
cloudy world below, certain sharp eyes, unable to follow him, 
could yet follow and discern where his brilliant way cut through 
divers floating clouds of doctrine, he pursued his eagle's path 
straight into the sunshine. But there were other eyes and 
thoughts in the cloudy regions underneath, watching that lofty 
perilous career into the Divine mysteries, without either light 
to lead, or faith to follow. An idle clergyman, called Cole, — 
of whom nobody seems to know anything but that he suddenly 
appeared out of darkness at this moment to do his ignoble office, 
— heard by the wind of rumour, which at that time was con- 
stantly carrying something of the eloquent preacher's lavish 
riches about the world, of what appeared to him " a new doc- 
trine." The immediate cause was an address delivered by Ir- 
ving in behalf of a society for the distribution of Grospel Tracts, 
in which some of his audience discovered that the preacher de- 
clared the human nature of our Saviour to be identical with 



DISCOVERIES MADE BY THE KEY. MR COLE. 221 

all human nature, truly and in actual verity the " seed of Abra- 
ham." This, coming to the ears of Mr Cole, apparently, at 
the moment, a man at leisure, and in a condition to set his la- 
borious brethren right and find out their errors, filled the soul 
of that virtuous critic with alarm and horror. To him the 
world seems to be indebted for the disingenuous statement of 
this new view, if new view it was, which, by giving the name 
of the " sinfulness of Christ's human nature " to that which in 
Irving' s eyes was the actual redemption of human nature 
through Christ, inevitably prejudiced and prejudged the ques- 
tion with the mass of religious people. Few can follow those 
fine and delicate intricacies and distinctions which encompass 
such an important but impalpable difference of belief; but 
everybody can be shocked at the connection of sin with the 
person of the Saviour. This was the unfair and deeply disin- 
genuous method of representing it, which Cole first hit upon, 
and which all who followed him on that side of the question, 
in spite of countless protests and denials from the other, ob- 
stinately maintained. The novel means which Mr Cole took 
to satisfy himself about the new doctrine we are fortunately 
able to give in his own words, which, in the form of a letter to 
Irving, he published shortly after the event he narrates. 

" I had purposed," says this candid divine, " ever since the delivery 
of your Society Oration, to hear you myself, that I might be satisfied 
personally whether you really did hold the awful doctrine of the sinful- 
ness of Christ's human nature or not ; but six months elapsed before my 
continued purpose was realized. I did not like to leave my usual place 
of worship to hear you ; and yet there appeared no possibility of ac- 
complishing my desire without it. On Sunday evening, the 28th of 
October last, however, I was returning home rather early, about eight 
o'clock ; and it occurred to me that, if I went to your chapel, 1 might 
find your oration not quite concluded ; and that I might, perhaps, hear 
something that would enable me to arrive at the desired satisfaction. 
I accordingly proceeded to the Caledonian Chapel. When I entered, I 
found your oration not concluded : I therefore sat down, and heard you 
for about twenty minutes. I had not been seated above a minute or two, 
when I found that you were dwelling much upon the person and work 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and I had hardly arrived at a 
perception of the train of that part of your discourse, when you made 
me tremble from head to foot by thundering out the expression, ' that 
sinful substance ! ' meaning the human body of the adorable Son of 
God ! You were declaring * That the main part of His victory consisted 
in His overcoming the sin and corruption of His human nature.' You 
stated, ' He did not sin.' ' But,' you said, ' there was that sinful sub- 
stance against which He had to strive, and with which he had to conflict 
during the whole of His life upon earth.' What I felt at hearing such 
awful blasphemy against the person of the Son of God, declaimed with 



22! 



FOLLOWS THE PREACHER TO THE VESTRY 



accompanying vehement gesticulations, before upwards, I should sup- 
pose, of two thousand persons, I cannot describe. And the whole 
superstructure of the remaining part of your oration was more or less 

of a piece with and built upon this terrifically awful foundation 

Nevertheless, to put myself beyond the reach of error, in so momentous 
a matter, and at the same time to give you the most fair and full op- 
portunity -of unsaying any unguarded expressions, and also to ascertain 
whether what you uttered was your considerate and real belief, I re- 
solved, if practicable, to speak to you in person. Having understood 
from one of your attendants that you would favour me with a confer- 
ence, I waited till you were disengaged, and was at length admitted into 
your presence. My address and questions, and your answers, were as fol- 
lows : — ' I believe, sir, a considerable part of the conclusion of your dis- 
course this evening has been upon the person and works of Jesus Christ ? ' 
You answered in the affirmative. I added, " If I mistake not, you as- 
serted that the human body of Christ was sinful substance ? ' You re- 
plied, ' Yes, I did.' I continued, ' But is that your real and considerate 
belief ? ' You answered, c Yes, it is, as far as I have considered the 
subject. 5 And here you produced a book, which, I believe, was some 
national confession of faith, to confirm your faith and assertions, in 
which you pointed out to me these words (if I mistake not), c The flesh of 
Jesus Christ, which was by nature mortal and corruptible.' . . . . ' This, 
sir/ I observed, ' is to me a most awful doctrine.' And after making 
other remarks upon the awfulness of the doctrine, and asking you once 
or twice if such was your deliberate and considerate belief, which you 
answered in the affirmative, I put this final question to you, ' Do you 
then, sir, really believe that the body of the Son of God was a mortal, 
corrupt, and corruptible body, like that of all mankind ? — the same body 
as yours and mine ? ' You answered, ' Yes, just so ; certainly ; that is 
what I believe.' Upon which I departed." 

The inquirer departed, after so unwarrantable an invasion 
of another man's privacy, to bring against the sincere and 
patient preacher who had borne this catechising, and had not 
resented it, the charge of serious heresy. Such a method of 
getting at the facts on which the indictment was to be framed 
has fortunately been seldom resorted to ; and it is not an ex- 
ample which many men would like to follow. Irving himself 
gives a much shorter account of the same interview in the pre- 
face to a volume entitled Christ's Holiness in the Mesh, pub- 
lished in 1831. He says : — ■ 

" Of the man I know nothing, save that a stranger once solicited 
conversation with me on a Lord's-day night, after public worship, of 
which conversation I found what purported to be the substance stand- 
ing at the head of this publication (Cole's pamphlet). Whether it be so 
or not I cannot tell, for it was at a moment of exhaustion that it was 
held ; and I gave the stranger an invitation to come to me at leisure on 
the Thursday following, for the further satisfying of his conscience. He 
did not think it worth his while to do this : and could reconcile his con- 



irving's manner of meeting the attack. 223 

science to the betrayal of pastoral and ministerial confidence, and to the 
publication of a conversation, without even asking me whether it was 
correctly reported or not. ... I shall never forget/' he proceeds, " the 
feeling which I had upon first hearing my name coupled with heresy. 
So much did it trouble me, that I once seriously meditated sending a 
paper to the Christian Observer, in order to contradict the man's false 
insinuations. But I thought it better to sit quiet and bear the reproach. 
When, however, I perceived that this error was taking form, and that 
the Church was coming into peril of believing that Christ had no tempt- 
ations in the flesh to contend with and overcome, I felt it my duty to 
intercalate, in the volume on the Incarnation, a sermon (No. III.), 
showing out the truth in a more exact and argumentative form, directed 
specially against the error that our Lord took human nature in its crea- 
tion, and not in its fallen estate. And another (No. VI.), showing the 
most grave and weighty conclusions flowing from the true doctrine, that 
He came under the conditions of our fallen state in order to redeem us 
from the same. This is the true and faithful account of the first work 
which I published upon the subject." 

Such was the simple and straightforward course adopted by 
Irving at the first whisper of the accusation brought against 
him. Instead of rushing into sudden encounter with his 
darkling assailant, he waited until nearly the end of the year, 
in order to add to the plain statement of his belief its fuller 
defence and support — and after adding these careful produc- 
tions to the already printed volume, issued it, with the explan- 
ation given above, without even referring to the obscure 
originator of the sudden outcry. The dedication to the third 
volume of this work is dated January 10th, 1828, while the 
similar preface to the first is not written till November 10th 
of the same year, ten months later. The difference of these 
dates bears notable and simple testimony to the way in w r hich 
this matter affected him. The w^ork, prepared with all care and 
deliberation, and just on the eve of being given to the world, 
was postponed, not that he might soften down or clear away 
the doubtful expressions, but that, with more distinct force 
and clearer utterance, he might disclose the belief that was in 
him. Having no doubt in himself, he was only anxious to be 
understood clearly, that his doctrine might be proved. In this 
patient and candid manner, not hastily, but with the postpone- 
ment of all an author's expectations, and all the natural indig- 
nation of a man unhandsomely assailed, he answered this first 
charge of heresy. He himself bears witness that it was echoed 
on all sides around him. It was "a great outcry " — "a stir 
in divers quarters." He delayed answering for a year — a year 
so full of other occupations, that it is hard to conceive how he 
can have had the patience and composure necessary to take up 



224 APOLOGY FOR THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 

the threads and extend the high argument ; and then soberly 
asserts his cherished truth and vindicates his character. " The 
point at issue is simply this," he says with dignified gravity and 
moderation, " whether Christ's flesh had the grace of sinless- 
ness and incorruption from its proper nature, or from the 
indwelling of the Holy Ghost ; I say the latter." With this 
statement of the matter, we may, in the meantime, like Irving, 
leave the question. The cloud, like a man's hand, had risen 
out of the envious mists, when the religious spy entered the 
little Presbyterian sacristy at Eegent Square, to bring the in- 
genuous soul there to account, and betray its frank and un- 
studied explanations. All unconscious of the object of his 
questioner, Irving spoke forth the truth he held then as 
always ; and when he became aware of the brewing storm, 
faced it, all candid and undisguisable, but with a patience and 
lofty composure which few men could have equalled. And 
with that for the present the matter closed. An angry wind 
of assault and accusation raged without ; but within, his be- 
loved church, always ready enough to note deviations in doc- 
trine, was yet unroused and unstartled. And Irving went on 
his way, full not of one truth but of many — and believing him- 
self, first and above all, called upon to proclaim the coming of 
that Lord whom he all but saw — the approach of One who was 
no abstraction nor embodiment of doctrine to his fervid spirit, 
but his very Grod and Lord, flesh of his flesh and bone of his 
bone. 

In the spring of the same year he preached a Fast-day 
Sermon, it is not recorded upon what occasion, before the 
Presbytery of London, which was afterwards published under 
the title of an Apology for the Ancient Fulness and Purity of the 
Doctrine of the Church of Scotland. This work I can only 
speak of from the fragments contained in an adverse and ill- 
natured review ; but it was evidently not only a fervent eulo- 
gium on the mother Church, but an assertion of higher claims 
on her behalf than the so-called democratic and popular Church 
of Scotland is generally supposed to have ever made ; and he 
seems to have founded his views, as Irving was always disposed 
to do, upon the ancient Confessions of the Church, and not 
upon the modern Westminster Confession, which is now its 
chief recognized standard. Upon these old Confessions he 
always made his stand, reaching across the controversial age to 
those ancient and loftier days when the primitive creed was set 
forth simply and without argument. There is, indeed, a cer- 
tain wilful independence in the way in which he eludes all 
mention of the later declaration of doctrine which has been 



IRVING CARRIES HIS MESSAGE TO HIS OWN COUNTRY. 225 

identified with his church, and fixes his tenacious regard upon 
the elder utterance, which he never ceased to maintain, and 
quaintly inflicted upon his English disciples in after years with 
a pertinacity which would he amusing were it not deeply 
pathetic. "I do battle under the standards of the Church 
under which my fathers fell," he says with touching prophetic 
sadness in this Fast-day sermon. " I am a man sworn to dis- 
cipline, and must abide by my standard, and may not leave it, 
but fall beside it, or fall above it, and yield to it the last shelter 
and rampart of my fallen body." These words were laughed 
at by some of the critics of the day as " mouth-valiant tropes." 
The progress of time, however, throws sad and striking illus- 
trations upon them ; for it is certain that, whether right or 
wrong in his interpretation of their meaning, Irving did stand 
by those standards till he fell in the heat of battle, and never 
relinquished them, even to the death. 

In May, Mrs Irving, whose health was still delicate, went 
to Scotland to her father's house, and about the same time 
Irving himself left London to travel by the slower route of An- 
nan and his native district, preaching as he went, to Edinburgh 
and Kirkcaldy. His object in this journey was not relaxation 
or pleasure. He went, counting himself " most favoured of the 
Lord," to proclaim in Scotland, as he had already done in Lon- 
don, the coming of his Master. " Walk, dear David, in the fear 
of the Lord — the time is short," he writes in one of those 
friendly letters, now becoming rarer and rarer. And penetrated 
with that conviction, he went to Scotland to warn, first his 
father's house and kindred, and the countryside which had still 
so great a hold upon his heart, and then universal Scotland 
through her capital, of that advent which he looked for with 
undoubting and fervent expectation. This journey was in many 
respects a very remarkable one, being occupied entirely in the 
work to which he had no inducement or persuasion but his own 
profound belief of the great event about to happen — of which, 
indeed, nobody can doubt that the world had, if it were so near 
at hand, most strenuous need to be advertised. No way could 
he have better proved the perfect reality of his own belief. 

" Edward is in excellent health," writes Mrs Irving, on the 16th of 
May, from Kirkcaldy, to Mr Story, of Rosneath. " He has gone to 
bear his testimony for the truth in his native town, and purposes being 
in Dumfries, if the Lord will, next week, and to commence his labours 
in Edinburgh on Thursday next. . . . His time is wholly occupied. His 
course of discourses will not be finished in Edinburgh until Wednesday 
the 4th of June, when he proposes starting immediately for Glasgow, 
and, if they choose, preaching there on the following day. Then at 

15 



226 PLAN OF HIS JOURNEY. 

Paisley on Friday, at Greenock on the Saturday morning, and crossing 
to Rosneath and doing all service you may require on Sabbath and Mon- 
day. He desires much to preach for Mr Campbell on Tuesday evening, 
again at Glasgow on Wednesday, at Bathgate (my brother's parish) on 
Thursday, and be here at the communion on Sabbath, the 15th. All being 
well, on Tuesday after, we expect that your acquaintance, William Ham- 
ilton, will be united to my sister Elizabeth. After this, God willing, 
Edward visits Perth, Dundee, and Monimail." 

Such was the course be bad determined for himself before 
setting out from his labours in London ; and when it is under- 
stood that he did this without inducement or stimulation, except 
that of the message with which he was bursting, something of 
the fervour of the spirit which could not keep silent may be ap- 
prehended. One joyful domestic incident — the marriage of his 
sister-in-law to his bosom friend, a marriage quaintly suggested 
years ago, before the pair had ever met, to the present bride- 
groom — gave a point of tender human interest to the laborious 
journey ; but such a holiday few labouring men, few workers 
errant in such an agitating field as that of London, would have 
thought of, or could have carried out. 

From the first point in these apostolic travels he writes as 
follows to his wife : — 

" Annan, Saturday, 17th May, 1828. 

"My dear Wife, — I arrived here on Wednesday night, and found 
all our friends well. Next morning I waited on the minister, who most 
graciously gave me my request to preach the three week nights as well 
as the Sabbath. This I published in the market, as I came down the 
street, and in the evening the church was thronged, as also last night. 
I opened the seventh chapter of Daniel, and the second and third of Acts, 
laying out the whole subject, and this night I open 2 Peter iii. and Re- 
velations xix. and xx. Indeed, I have been most favoured of the Lord to 
open these great truths first in Scotland to my own kindred and towns- 
men, and in the church where I was baptized. To-morrow I preach at 
Kirkpatrick, in a tent, I suppose, when I intend throwing all help aside, 
and preaching a regular sermon from Rom. yiii. 1 — 3, trusting to Christ's 
own most helpful and blessed promise. In the evening I return and 
preach for the Sabbath Schools ; I know not what sermon yet ; perhaps, 
however, it may be a discourse of baptism, from Rom. vi., embodying 
the doctrine of the homilies, and this also extempore. On Monday I pro- 
ceed for Dumfries, resting a few hours with our Margaret, and proceed- 
ing thence to Cargen, to meet some clergymen there ; but finding the 
minister of the parish to be my nearest of kin, I wrote a letter to him 
enclosed to Cargen, to say, that if he would gather the people after their 
work, at seven o'clock, I would preach to them. On Tuesday, at one 
o'clock, I preach for the Society ; and in the evening, at seven, for Mr 
Kirkwood, at Holywood, if it please him ; and then, on Wednesday 
morning, I proceed with Margaret to Edinburgh by the earliest coach. 



HIS LABOURS AMONG HIS OWN PEOPLE. 227 

.... These things I write that you may remember me at those seasons 
when I am engaged in the Lord's service. For it is the strength yielded 
unto the prayers of His saints which is my strength. I am nothing but 
a broken reed. I desire to be still viler in my sight. I am His worth- 
less instrument, whom He will use for his own glory, either in saving 
me or in not saving me : and so that His glory is promoted I desire to 
be satisfied. Oft I have the feeling of the Apostle — lest I also be a 

castaway. God bless you and dear Margaret The grace of the 

Lord Jesus Christ be upon thee, and upon all the house of thy father. 
Farewell. 

" Your affectionate husband, 
"Edward Irving." 

Thus labouring, he made bis way through Dumfriesshire. 
The wonderful apparition of that great figure, with which An- 
nan had grown unfamiliar, pausing in the street where the 
weekly market of the country town was going on, and proclaim- 
ing with audible voice to all the rural crowd of farmers and 
cottagers and homely country-merchants the night's preaching, 
is a scene well worthy any painter's skill. There where, as his 
old companions boast, no man has ever had " an ill word " to 
say of Edward Irving, he appeared out of the halo of distant 
metropolitan grandeur, familiar, yet strange, a distinction to 
his native town. The countryside, stirred with an impulse 
warmer than mere curiosity, arose and went to hear the mess- 
age he brought them. On the Sunday when he preached, neigh- 
bouring ministers shut up their churches, and went the long 
Sabbath-day's journey, across the Annandale moors, to hear 
him, along with their people. Such a scene as Tennyson touches, 
with one wistful stroke of his magic pencil, must have been 
common enough in those days in that southland country. Many 
a countryman, roused by the sound of his old schoolfellow's 
name, like him who — 

" In his farrow musing stands, 
Does my old friend remember me ? " 

must have given his Sunday's leisure to listen to that voice 
which had no equal in Annandale. For once the proverb seems 
to have failed. He had honour in his own country, where gentle 
and simple flocked to hear him ; and where, when the church 
would not contain his hearers, he preached in the open air from 
the little wooden pulpit, traditionally known as the " tent," to 
which, on extraordinary occasions, the rural ministers resorted. 
That he had been able to carry his message thus to his own 
people seems to have been a refreshment to Irving's heart. 

Then he went on to Edinburgh, w r here he had already 
arranged to deliver twelve lectures on the Apocalypse. Here 



lie was to live in the house of Mr Bridges, now a friend of 
some years' standing, who lived in Grreat King Street, one of 
those doleful lines of handsome houses which weigh down 
the cheerful hill-side under tons of monotonous stone. The 
mistress of the house awaited in some trepidation the arrival 
of her distinguished guest, doubtful whether one, of whose 
eccentricities and solemnities everybody had heard, might be 
sufficiently of human mould to make him an agreeable visitor. 
She sent away her children hurriedly when she heard his 
arrival at the door, and listened with a little awe for his 
stately approach. But, while the mother stood palpitating 
by her drawing-room door, the children on the stairs en- 
countered the stranger. He stood still immediately to greet 
them, to make himself acquainted with their names, and give 
them the blessing, without which he could not pass any head 
sufficiently low to have his hand of benediction laid upon it. 
I am not sure that one of them was not mounted aloft on 
the mighty altitude of his shoulder when he confronted the 
mother, alarmed no longer, and received the welcome, which 
came from no hesitating lip. 

It was May, and the clergy of Scotland were all in Edin- 
burgh. Of all times to deliver the message of Elias, this was 
the best time for the Presbyterian nation ; and it was on that 
special account that Irving had chosen it. He began his lec- 
tures in St Andrew's Church at the extraordinary hour of 
six in the morning, in order to make sure of the ecclesiastical 
audience, busied all day in the affairs of the Church, which 
he particularly sought. In the sweet but chilly freshness of 
those spring mornings, a dense crowd filled the area of Greorge 
Street. I have heard a clergyman of the mildest aspect and 
most courtly manners describe how, roused by the idea that 
favoured persons were being admitted by another entrance, 
he, despite all the proprieties of his clerical character and 
the suavities of his individual disposition, was so far roused 
as to threaten an official in attendance with a personal as- 
sault, and descent over the besieged railing, if admittance 
was not straightway afforded. Nothing in our day seems fit 
to be compared with that wonderful excitement. Half of 
the audience would on ordinary occasions have been peace- 
fully reposing in their beds at the hour which saw them, all 
animated and anxious, pressing into the gloomy church. The 
very accompaniments which would have repelled them from 
another — his indifference to ordinary comforts and regula- 
tions — his selection of an hour, of all others least likely to 



EXCITEMENT IN EDINBURGH. 229 

tempt forth the crowd — seem to have attracted them to 
Irving. Hosts of people cheerfully made themselves uncom- 
fortable for the chance of getting admittance ; and those who 
came, came not once, as to an unparalleled exhibition, but 
time after time, as unable to escape from the spell. " He is 
drawing prodigious crowds," Dr Chalmers writes. " We 
attempted this morning to force our way into St Andrew's 
Church ; but it was all in vain. He changes to the West 
Church, for the accommodation of the public." In that 
vast building, fitted up with three hideous galleries, the won- 
derful invention of the eighteenth century, the crowd did 
not lessen. " Certainly there must have been a marvellous 
power of attraction that could turn a whole population out 
of their beds as early as five in the morning," adds Dr 
Chalmers. " The largest church in our metropolis was each 
time over-crowded." And the enthusiastic hearers took the 
younger members of their households with them, when it was 
practicable, through the crowd, by way of impressing that 
wonderful eloquence, so unlikely to appear again in their 
day, upon the minds of the new generation. 

It was altogether an extraordinary new chapter in the 
preacher's life. Perhaps to disturb the equilibrium of the 
composed society of Edinburgh, and draw an immense con- 
gregation of his sober-minded countrymen from their morn- 
ing slumbers and home comfort, into such a crowded assem- 
bly as the rising sun rarely shines upon, was the greatest 
triumph to which he had yet attained. It does not seem, 
however, that he looked at it at all in this vulgar light. " I 
have fairly launched my bark. God speed us ! " he writes 
to his wife ; and, without another word of comment upon his 
extraordinary audiences, proceeds to report his progress 
through Dumfriesshire, and to diverge into purely domestic 
matters, telling how one of the Kirkcaldy sisters, then in his 
native country, " is dear to all who know her ;" but, " being 
of the Reformation school by education," perceives that the 
family with whom she resides is "but Evangelical;" and 
sending to another sister — the bride Elizabeth — the tender 
regards which her circumstances call forth. " My brotherly 
love and ministerial blessing upon her virgin head," he 
writes ; his heart evidently touched with the tearful joy of 
that crisis of youthful life. Nor could any one guess, from 
this brief correspondence, that the writer was at the height 
of popular applause, followed, lauded, and commented upon 
by the whole disturbed town, in which he had appeared like 



230 DISSATISFACTION OF CHALMERS. 

a sudden meteor ; the agitating popularity which encircled 
him leaves no trace upon his hurried and simple communi- 
cations. 

And now the objections which had always risen against 
him began really to take a form grievous to his heart. Lon- 
don criticism had not dismayed the dauntless orator ; but he 
was now among friends, and exposed to animadversions of a 
heavier kind. Again Dr Chalmers comes in, puzzled and 
full of doubt, yet speaking plainly the opinion for which his 
mind had evidently been preparing since his visit to London. 
" For the first time, heard Mr Irving," he notes in his brief 
journal ; " I have no hesitation in saying it is quite woeful. 
There is power and richness, and gleams of exquisite beauty, 
but withal, a mysterious and extreme allegorization, which, I 
am sure, must be pernicious to the general cause. He sent 
me a letter he had written to the King, on the Test, &c, and 
begged that I would read every word of it before I spoke. I 
did so, and found it unsatisfactory and obscure, but not half 
so much so as his sermon." At the discussion upon the 
Abolition of Tests, in the Greneral Assembly of that year, 
Chalmers again describes the apparition of Irving, making 
himself visible among the assembled spectators and doing all 
that a bystander could to make his own strenuous opposition 
apparent. " Irving is wild on the other side from me," said 
the calm and liberal divine, who supported with all his force 
of practical wisdom the abolition of a safeguard proved to be 
useless, and who had read, without being at all influenced by 
it, the eloquent letter to the King, in which the idealist op- 
posite him set forth his splendid impracticable vision of a 
Christian nation bound under Grod to be swayed by only 
Christian men ; " he sat opposite to me when I was speaking, 
as if his eye and looks, seen through the railing, were sta- 
tioned there for my disquietude. He, by the way, had a 
regular collision with a Dr H., a violent sectarian, who de- 
nounced him as an enemy to the Grospel of Christ. The 
colloquy that ensued was highly characteristic ; Mr Irving's 
part of it began with ' "Who art thou, O man, that smiteth 
me with thy tongue ? ' " 

Nothing could better illustrate the characters of the two 
men, whom it is always interesting and often amusing to see 
together, than this odd juxtaposition ; the one, clear-sighted 
and executive within the legislative area; the other, impa- 
tient, eager, visionary, outside, spending his strength in vehe- 
ment appeals and protests against the inevitable tide of 
things which was, visibly to his eyes, sweeping down the 



THE STATESMAN AND THE VISIONARY. 231 

lofty claims and standing of his country. Chalmers puts the 
impracticable optimist aside with a mixture of impatience and 
compassion — finds his impassioned protest " obscure and un- 
satisfactory," and proceeds, in spite of the brilliant gaze fixed 
upon him " through the railing," to clear the modern working 
ground for modern action and practical necessities. Irving, 
with a certain loving, noble scorn, all unaware of the different 
direction in which his friend's eyes are turning, and totally 
inaccessible to all considerations of practicability, watches 
the formation of the commonplace road, shaped according to 
compelling circumstances, and burns to rush in and establish 
the eternal ideal track, deviating for no compulsion, which 
neither he nor any other man can ever fix upon the surface 
of this earth. Yet, let nobody think that the ideal protest 
outside was of less use to humanity than the operative sense 
within. Chalmers helped on the course of modern affairs, 
and smoothed and widened the national path : Irving, with 
extravagance, with passion, with convictions which knew no 
middle course, stirred the hearts in men's bosoms, and kept 
alive the spirit of that sublime impracticable, which, never 
reaching, every true man strives to reach, and which pre- 
serves an essence of national and spiritual life far beyond the 
power of the most perfect organization or the highest po- 
litical advantages to bestow. 

Whether Chalmers's conclusion, that the lectures of this 
course were " quite woeful," was shared by the Edinburgh 
public, seems very doubtful ; for, to the last, that public, not 
over-excitable, crowded its streets in the early dawu, throng- 
ing toward that point where the homely West Church, with 
its three galleries, stands under the noble shadow of the 
Castle Hill ; and his wonderful popularity was higher at the 
conclusion than at the beginning. Nor is it easy to believe 
that the same year which produced the splendid oratory of 
the Last Days, could have fallen so far short in the special 
mission with which he felt himself charged. But Chalmers's 
disapproving eye did not perceive nor recognize the over- 
powering force of that conviction which had taken possession 
of his friend. The Second Advent was, to him, a doctrine 
open to discussion, possibly capable of proof; to Irving, a 
closely approaching stupendous event, of which woe was 
unto him if he did not warn his brethren. The one man was 
not able to judge the other with such an astonishing gulf of 
difference between. 

Other encounters, telling upon his future career, hap- 
pened to Irving at this remarkable era of his life. It was 



232 A NEW FRIEND. 

one of the critical periods of religious thought. Here and 
there, throughout Scotland, one mind and another had broken 
the level of fixed theology, and strayed into a wider world of 
Christian hope and love. Departing from the common argu- 
mentative basis of doctrine, such minds as that of Mr Erskine 
of Linlathen and Mr Campbell of Row, afterwards notable 
enough in the agitated Church, had concentrated themselves 
upon one point of the bountiful revelation of divine truth, 
and declared, with all the effusive warmth of Christian love 
and yearning, the " freeness of the Grospel." 

Dreaming nothing of heresy, but anxious to consult a 
brother in the ministry, of older experience and more vivid 
genius than himself, about this tremulous dawning glory 
which had brightened the entire world of truth to his own 
perceptions, John Campbell of Row, saintly in personal piety, 
and warm in Celtic fervour, came, with the natural diffidence 
of youth, to seek an interview with Irving. He found him 
alone in the drawing-room at Great King Street, with one of 
the children of the house playing on the carpet at his feet, — 
a tender domestic accompaniment to the high reverie and 
musings of the interpreter of prophecy. The stranger — less 
a stranger as being the dear friend of one of Irving's dearest 
friends — told his errand modestly : he had come to ask 
counsel and help in the midst of his hopes and difficulties. 
Irving turned towards him with the natural gracious humble- 
ness of his character, and bade him speak out. " Grod may 
have sent me instruction by your hands," said the candid 
heart, always more ready to learn than to teach. It is not 
hard to imagine what must have been the effect of these 
words on the young man, shy of his errand. They sat down 
together to discuss that high theme, with the child playing 
at their feet. Nobody will doubt that their after-friendship 
lasted till death. 

I am not able to estimate what effect Mr Campbell's views 
had upon the mind of Irving. As one part, and that a deeply 
important one, of the truth, great and wide enough to de- 
serve any man's special devotion, and, indeed, the most clear 
demonstrative exhibition of the Grospel, it is evident that he 
entered into it heartily ; and holding, as he himself held, that 
Christ's work was one which redeemed not only individual 
souls, but the nature of man, no one could be more ready 
than he to rejoice in the fullest unconditional proclamation 
that Christ died for all. His own sentiments, however, on 
other subjects, and the higher heroical strain of a soul which 
believed visible judgment and justice to be close at hand, and 



ROSNEATH. 233 

felt, in the groaning depths of its nature, that the world he 
contemplated was neither conscious nor careful of its re- 
demption, make it apparent that Irving's mind was not so spe- 
cially bent upon this individual aspect of the truth as that 
of his visitor. But Mr Campbell commended himself entirely 
to Irving's heart. He was too visibly a man of Grod to leave 
any doubtfulness upon his immediate reception into the fer- 
vent brotherhood of that tender nature. 

From Edinburgh, as soon as his lectures were finished, 
the preacher went to Grlasgow, from whence, about a week 
after, he writes the following brief account of his labours to 
his wife : — 

"Collins' shop, Glasgow, June 10th, 1828. 
" I have a moment's time, and embrace it, to let you know that I 
am here, well, and about to proceed to Carnwath to-morrow morning. 
I have had much of the Lord's presence. I preached here on Matt, 
xiii. on Thursday. On Friday, on the Regeneration, when the apostles 
are to sit on thrones. On Saturday, on the Resurrection. On Sab- 
bath, at Rosneath, in the tent, on Psalm ii. for lecture, and on the name 
of God, Psalms ix. and x., for sermon. At Row, on the 24th Matthew. 
To-morrow I preach on Matt, xxv., first parable ; at Bathgate, second 
parable ; and in Edinburgh, on the Last Times. I was much delighted 
with Campbell and Sandy Scott, whom I have invited to come with you 
to London. I trust the Lord will deliver him out of his present deep 
waters. I have much comfort in these extempore expositions, and, if I 
mistake not, it will constitute an era in my ministry ; not that I will 
hastily adopt it, or always, but for the propagation of this truth by ex- 
position. It is a great delight for me to find that I can preach every 
day with little trouble, with no injury. I trust the Lord preserves you 
in faith, and peace, and love. By the blessing of God, I will see you 
on Saturday morning Farewell, my beloved wife ! " 

This brief record supplies little except the facts of the 
rapid but apostolic journey. I have no information as to the 
effect of his appearance at Grlasgow • but when he arrived at 
the little westland paradise of Rosneath, and under the rich 
sycamores and blossomed laurel set up the tent, or wooden 
out- door pulpit, familiar to all eyes on great ecclesiastical 
occasions, and close by the little church, all too small for the 
overflowing audience, yet occupied by a portion of the hear- 
ers, thrilled the soft air and listening crowd with his herald's 
proclamation of the coming King, the whole district, here- 
after to bear a notable part in his own history, was stirred by 
his approach. Doubtless the singular young woman who 
was first to receive that wonderful gift of " Tongues " which 
had so great an influence on Irving's future fate, was there 
from the head of the loch to have her mysterious imagination 



234 A. J. SCOTT. 

quickened with words which should reverberate to the preach- 
er's undoing. All the agitations and distractions of his latter 
days lay there in the germ by the sweet half- Highland waters, 
on the shore of which, as eager to penetrate the rural still- 
ness as to charm the greater ear of cities, he delivered his 
startling message. Next day at Row, on the opposite shore, 
almost within hearing of his Sabbath-day's station, a similar 
scene was repeated. A witness describes, with a certain un- 
conscious poetry, the aspect of the loch, bright with boats, 
conveying from all points the eager congregation, and Irving's 
generous spontaneous divergence from his special mission to 
take up and illuminate and enforce the equally special and 
earnest burden of the young brother who had unfolded to 
him his heart. There he met, not for the first time, but with 
an important result, another man of remarkable character, 
and no small influence upon his after life, Alexander- Scott, 
now of Manchester, the son of Dr Scott, of Greenock, with 
whom, then a probationer of the Scotch Church, Irving en- 
tered into an agreement, engaging him as his assistant in his 
ministerial labours in London, where for some time after- 
wards they laboured together. 

Passing through Glasgow, Irving then went to Carnwath, 
in the wilds of Lanarkshire, where his wife's cousin, the Rev. 
James Walker, was minister of the parish, and from thence 
to Bathgate, not far off, to his brother, Samuel Martin, an- 
other well-known and honourable parish priest. Another 
sermon in Edinburgh seems to have concluded this laborious 
week. On Saturday he crossed the Firth to Kirkcaldy, to 
join his family and share the household joys and conferences 
of the family home, then excited by all the agitations of an 
approaching bridal. It was the eve of the communion, be- 
sides — always a time of solemn yet pleasant stir in a Scotch 
manse. The tenderest, touching conjunction of family emo- 
tions was in that manse of Kirkcaldy on the expectant Sa- 
turday, and the solemn, cheerful dawn of the sacramental 
morning ; one of the daughters a bride, another a delicate 
expecting mother ; — sweet agitation and religious calm. 

But darker shadows were to fall over the wedding day. 
On Sunday evening, after the sacramental feast was over, a 
prodigious concourse of people gathered in Kirkcaldy church. 
They had come from all quarters to hear a preacher so re- 
nowned for his eloquence, who had long been familiar to all 
the neighbourhood, whom once the popular mind of Kirk- 
caldy had scorned, but whom now the entire neighbourhood 
struggled for a chance of hearing. In the sweet summer 






ACCIDENT AT KIRKCALDY. 235 

evening, when Irving, all unaware of any calamity, and 
having just left his ailing wife, was on his way to church, 
he met a messenger coming to warn him of the terrible ac- 
cident which had just occurred. The overcrowded galleries 
had fallen, and, besides the immediate inevitable loss of life, 
which, fortunately, was not great, all the horrors of a vulgar 
panic had set in amongst the crowd. Irving immediately 
took up his post under a window in the staircase, and, con- 
spicuous by his great size and strength, helped many of the 
terrified fugitives to make their way out, lifting them down 
in his arms. Such a scene of popular panic and selfish cow- 
ardice is always an appalling one. Dr Chalmers, whose 
wife and child were present, reckons, in his account of it, 
that " at least thirty-five people " were killed, two or three 
only by the actual fall of the gallery, and the rest " by the 
stifling and suffocation towards the doors of the church. 
The dead and dying were lifted out into the churchyard, the 
latter to receive such help as might be possible, and terror 
and lamentation filled the neighbourhood. In the midst of 
this heart-rending scene, one of the crowd, with a bitterness, 
perhaps, excused by some great loss, turned upon the preach- 
er, and taunted him cruelly with being the cause of the 
terrible event. The reproach, bitterly unjust as it was, went 
to Irving' s heart. He is said to have withdrawn from the 
melancholy scene to his own chamber, with tears of anguish 
and humiliation. And when this dreadful disturbance of the 
evening's calm had come to an end, and the troubled family, 
after having exhausted all possible efforts for the relief of 
the sufferers, were at last assembling to their evening 
prayers, his grieved soul broke forth into words. " (rod 
hath put me to shame this day before all the people," he 
said with a pang of distress all the more sharp and terrible 
from the love of love and honour that was natural to his 
heart. The short time he spent in Kirkcaldy afterwards was 
entirely occupied by visits to the injured or bereaved people, 
and, to such of them as needed pecuniary help, his purse as 
well as his heart was open. But the whole calamitous event 
seems to have been embittered by a wholly unreasonable and 
most cruel resentment against the preacher, which it is hard 
to account for. It is said that in some excited local coterie 
there was wild talk of offering up the author of all this calamity 
as a deodand. And even the fact that the marriage, thus 
sadly overcast, was not postponed, increased the popular 
indignation. Dr Chalmers himself, with inexplicable bitter- 
ness, exposed as he himself was to all the accidents common 



236 VISIT TO PERTH. 

to the gathering together of immense multitudes, describes 
this calamity as "the most striking and woeful eifect of 
Irving' s visit." It gave a tragic conclusion to the triumph- 
ant and exciting course of his brief but incessant labours. 

Just at this eventful and exciting period, another infant 
son came into the world, in the Kirkcaldy manse, and, as 
soon as Irving could leave his wife, he returned to London, 
making a brief divergence into the North before setting out 
on his homeward journey. In this short expedition north- 
wards he reappears out of the darkness in the following 
vivid glimpse, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the 
Rev. J. W. Taylor, of the Free Church, Creich. This gen- 
tleman writes : — 

"My own remembrance of Edward Irving is thirty years old, yet is 
the impression as fresh as the day on which it was made. I remember 
the very bend of the pavement where first I saw him : the raven locks 
flowing down to his broad shoulders, his magnificent erect figure, the 
cloak thrown over his arm, and the giant air with which he marched, are 

ineffaceably present to my mind He had come to Perth to 

preach. Mid-day sermons were not popular entertainments then, and 
the Kirkcaldy church catastrophe was fresh in people's thoughts ; but 
the East church was filled. His text was taken from the 24th chapter 
of Matthew, regarding the coming of the Son of Man. I remember 
nothing of the sermon, save its general subject ; but one thing I can 
never forget. While he was engaged in unfolding his subject, from out 
of a dark cloud, which obscured the church, there came forth a bright 
blaze of lightning and a crash of thunder. There was deep stillness in 
the audience. The preacher paused ; and from the stillness and the 
gloom his powerful voice, clothed with increased solemnity, pronounced 
these words : ' Eor as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth 
even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.' You 
can imagine the effect." 

The next that we see of him is in London, returned to his 
post, and plunging, without any interval, into his ordinary 
labours. He went, not to his own house — it being, indeed, a 
transitionary moment, in which he seems to have had no house, 
having ended his tenancy of one, and not entered upon another 
till his wife's return, — but to that of Miss Macdonald, a daughter 
of Sir Archibald Macdonald, once Lord Chief Justice, a woman 
of great accomplishments and wonderful self-devotion, who had 
been for some time the warmest friend of his family, and his 
own zealous assistant and amanuensis. From her habitation 
— then, it is to be supposed, a more refined locality than it ap- 
pears now — he writes to his wife : — 






RETURN TO LONDON. 237 

" 6, Euston Grove, Euston Square, London, 
Friday, July 3rd, 1828. 
" My Dearest Wiee, — This is merely to announce to you my safe 
arrival. I have a long sheet begun, but there is not time to close it 
until to-morrow, for which I have a frank. I found Miss Macdonald 
well, about one o'clock ; after washing, &c, we sat down to our old 
work * for about two hours ; after which we have gone fort^ to visit the 

schools, which are thriving As I passed througn Cheapside, I 

called to inquire after our friends both there and elsewhere. Alex had 
received a letter that morning, to say that they were on their way, and 
would be here either to-morrow or on Monday. The Lord bring them 
in peace and safety ! For myself, I am in good health, and slept well 
all the voyage. lib is really a matter of some importance to come by the 
James Watt : and I would have you to bear it in mind. I fondly hope, 
before this time, you are so far recovered as to able to be up and to enjoy 
yourself, and that the dear boy is thriving well. God make his sour to 
prosper and be in health ! And for dear Margaret, say that little Stewart 
inquired after her, and all rejoice in her health. But, no ! guard 
against her vanity and egotism. It will become very great, unless it be 
kept down. I pray you to bear this in mind. Dinner is on the table, 
and Campbell is to spend the evening with us — going off to-morrow. 
My love to you all. God bless the homes of our fathers all ! 
" Your affectionate and dutiful husband, 

"Edward Irving." 

Mr Campbell of Bow had either accompanied or preceded 
Irving to London, and had preached in his church, not only in 
the ordinary course, but an extraordinary Gaelic sermon, carry- 
ing back the minds of the changed congregation to those old 
days of the Caledonian Chapel, when Irving himself volunteered 
to learn Gaelic, if need were, rather than give up that post 
which he felt to be his fittest sphere. And it is evident that 
the profound piety and fervent love to God and man which he 
found in the heart of his new friend, had already made Irving 
a partisan in his favour', as was natural to the man. The corre- 
spondence proceeds not with the closeness or fulness of the 
journal-letters, which made the former separation between 
husband and wife memorable, but still conveying the best pic- 
ture that can be given of his life and thoughts :— 

"14, Westbourne Terrace, Bayswater, 19th July, 1828. 
" My dearest Isabella,— I find it impossible, for some few days 
yet, of getting my plan carried into effect of finishing my long letter, so 
much lies to my hand ; and, that you may not be disappointed of the 
regular communication which you so well deserve and I so much desire 
to make, I must send you these light pilot-boats before my great galleon. 
William and Elizabeth arrived last night about half-past eight o'clock. 
They are both looking uncommonly well ; Elizabeth a great deal stronger 

* Miss Macdonald writing to his dictation. 



238 iuving's sabbatical year. 

than at the time of her marriage, and both, as yon may well conceive, 
glad to get home. "We were holding a session, and so I did not arrive 
here till towards or after ten o'clock. The session were lond in their 
acknowledgments to Mr Campbell, and none more so than Mr Mackenzie, 
who, before, had been in some doubt of his doctrines. Now I think the 
judgment of so many pious and intelligent men, supported as it is 
generally, I may say universally, ought to have its weight among the 
gainsay ers in Scotland. I wrote for Campbell two letters, as I said, 
and saw him off on Saturday night. On Sabbath I preached my sermon 
on ' Jesus,' and in the evening I opened the period of the provocation 
from the making of the covenant unto the turning back into the wilder- 
ness. Next Sabbath, God willing, I open the name ' Christ ' and the 
Church in the wilderness. The services were both well attended, and 
the people seemed most glad to see me back again, as you may be sure 
was I to be back. I caused thanks to be returned for you, and I am 
glad, by your father's letter, to find that we have such good reason for 
the continuance of thanks. 

" I have read Mr Eville's second tract, which contains a good deal 

of matter I write these things because I know you love to 

meditate on them. Yon Billow called yesterday afternoon ; he has 
been hunted out of Scandinavia, as they would a man-destroyer ; but 
not until he had been instrumental in raising up two or three preach- 
ers in his stead, and he is now bound on his way to Poland, still in the 
service of the Continental Society. His wife is with him, and they have 

now three children I have finished this day my dedication, 

which, as Miss Macdonald was writing it, containing a review and nar- 
ration of God's dealings with the Church, we found we were writing 
on that day six years on which I set out from Glasgow to go to London 
to take up my charge. Next Sabbath is the first of my Sabbatical 
year. God grant it may be a year of free-will fruitfulness ! I have 
several curious things to send to you, but I must wait for a frank. Mr 

Percival and his brother were in church on Sabbath morning I 

forget whether there is anything else of news ; but I forget not to as- 
sure you of my tender love and constant faithfulness. God grant me 
to prove myself your worthy husband ! I bless my children, yours and 
mine. I pray God to bless all the house. Remember me with all af- 
fection, and pray for me always. " E. I." 

The dedication mentioned in this letter was that of the 
splendid volume, entitled the Last Bays, a work which one 
naturally places beside his Orations, and which, apart from 
prophetical researches, or the deeper investigations into doc- 
trine of his Trinity sermons, is perhaps more likely to preserve 
his literary fame than any other of his productions. The dedi- 
cation was to his session, and especially to William Hamilton, 
now so nearly connected with him by family ties, and his old 
elder, Mr Dinwiddie ; and contained a history of his coming to 
London, and all the difficulties connected with it, from which 
I have already largely quoted. It is one of the chief of those 



PUBLISHING NEGOTIATONS. 239 

many brief snatches of autobiography in which he revealed 
himself from time to time with unconscious simplicity, and 
which, unlike prefaces and dedications in general, are of an in- 
terest in many instances superior, and always equal to, the 
book itself thus introduced. The same volume continues for 
some time to be the principal subject of his letters, as will be 
seen from the following extracts : — 

" Mr Dinwiddie is in great trepidation at being put at the head of 
my book, and he tells me Mr Hamilton is of the same mind. I hope to 
persuade them better. I have a strong conviction that this boastful 
land is soon to be humbled. Oh, my dear Isabella, make no tarrying, 
but hide yourself and our children under the shadow of His wings, 

which is the Almighty Pray for me often and diligently, and 

pray for us altogether in ' Our Father,' and pray much that we may 
have a sweet sense of the forgiveness of our sins. It is too good for 
me to be used as the Lord's instrument in these perilous times, though 
but little believed. Oh, God, grant me to be Thy faithful servant, in 
the spirit of a son, ' though a son learning obedience.' Coleridge and 
Wordsworth are gone to Germany in company ; is not that curious ? 

I remember nothing further to mention, except what I would 

never forget — my love to all your house, and my blessing upon my 
children, and upon my tender and devoted wife." 

" 25th July. 

" I have received the sermons, and, as usual, there is now nothing 
wanting, and what I am to do with them I have not yet determined. I 
wish* your father would make me a good bargain with some of the 
Edinburgh booksellers, and so implicate their purse that they would be 
forced, by self-interest, to push them, for I see no other way of getting 
such interested. I would give them an edition of the series, consisting 
of 1500 copies, two vols, octavo, for £500. I'll tell you what, my good 
chancellor, I will give you all you can get for them, in full possession, 
to do with it whatever seemeth to you good. Try Blackwood, or some 
of those worldlings ; for truly there is no longer any grace or honour, 
and hard justice must be the rule with such. I wish sadly you were 
back again. I miss you very sore, although Miss Macdonald does 
everything which one not a wife can do for my comfort, and I have 
reason to be thankful. She desires her kind love, and rejoices in your 
recovery. Tell Maggy she must come to her own papa, or I will come 
and carry her off across the seas. But now keep of a good heart, that 
I may see you the sooner." 

" Blackheath, 25th July. 

" I write this from Miss Stubbs' cottage, whither Miss Macdonald 
and I have come in order to see and enjoy its beauty, before it pass 

into the hands of another owner. r Lord Mandeville came to us 

on Saturday night, and Elizabeth was with us. Mr Hamilton and Mr 
Mackenzie dropped in, and we spent a very sweet evening, being chiefly 

* This is apparently a reference to the three volumes of Sermons already 
mentioned. 



240 A BIBLE SOCIETY MEETING. 

occupied with the Epistle to the Hebrews, upon which his Lordship 

and I have come to very similar conclusions He had been 

at the Bible Society at Huntingdon, and had to stand in the pillory of 
Public Opinion. He had written, when invited to take the chair, that 
he had resolved with himself never to take the chair in any meeting which 
was not opened with prayer, and, hearing nothing further, concluded 
they had come to that resolution ; but when he found himself in the 

committee-room, all but two opposed it violently ' So,' he said, 

' there remain only two ways to proceed, and I leave you your choice : 
either I will not take the chair and allow the county to put their own 
construction upon it, or I will take the chair and begin the meeting by 
an explanation of all that has occurred. 5 They preferred the last, to 
which he was not disinclined, lest it might seem that he was acting 
from ill temper. And so, having opened the matter by this act of 
lecturing, the meeting proceeded, every speaker levelling against his 
Lordship's view of the matter, and apologizing for and justifying the 

Society During which exposition they were so given over to 

an ungovernable mind that they shut their ears with their hands, and 
even stamped with their feet, and did not refrain themselves from any 
other expression of disgust and disdain. . . But so it is, dearest, this 
religious world will outdo the Erench republicans in their rage against 
the true servants of the Lord, who shall be faithful enough to with- 
stand them Yesterday, though rather weakened in body, I was 

much strengthened in spirit for the Lord's work, to open, in the morn- 
ing, the mystery of Christ the first-born from the dead, and therein 
preferred above all creatures to be the High Priest ; and in the even- 
ing, to open up the mystery of Baptism as shadowed forth in the judg- 
ment and preservation of the deluge There is a curious piece of 

information connected with the Record newspaper, which I resolved to 
communicate to you, in order to prepare you for that opposition which 
we are destined to from the religious world. It bad come to a stand- 
still, and was going to be given up, when Mr Drummond, and Haldane, 
and Lord Mandeville, and a few others, resolved to take it up and 
make it a truly Christian paper, adopting jure divino doctrine with re- 
spect to Church and State at home, and Protestant principles with 
respect to our foreign affairs, such as Cromwell taught Papal Europe 
to fear. The moment it was heard by the religious world (the Evangel- 
ical) that it was corning into the hands of such men, they rallied them- 
selves, subscribed plentifully, and are resolved to carry it on 

Such is the idea entertained of us, and such is the present standing of 
the Record religious newspaper. Prepare yourself, my love, for casting 
out of the synagogue. I am sure it will come to this, and that, accord- 
ing to our faithfulness in testifying to the death, will be our acceptancy 

and admission into the kingdom of the Lord Beloved, I desire 

you to love me as I love you, and let us love one another as one self, 
not as one another, but one — the same." 

"31st July. 
" However short the time I can snatch, I know, though it were but 
a line that I wrote, it will yield you pleasure as a token of my affection j 



HIS BIRTHDAY. 241 

and therefore I do not hesitate, in the midst of my many occupations, 
to send you these hasty and most insufficient letters. , . . In the mean 
time, I have been slowly working out Mr Drunrmond's book ; for, as 
usual, I always feel myself pressed with a superfluity of matter, which 
I take as a gracious token of the Lord's goodness, and a call, at the 
same time, not to slacken in my endeavours to arouse the Church. It 
would have pleased you to see almost the whole body of the church full 
last night, listening to the exposition of the last part of the nineteenth 
chapter of the Revelation. I believe the Spirit cannot now be quenched. 
I feel the assurance of it, that the Lord's people are destined to make a 
stand in this place for His truth. The Dissenters are showing signs of 
fear in beginning to organize a lecture for next winter upon the sub- 
ject of unfulfilled, prophecy ; and I hear they are prevailing against me 
in various parts, and that I am generally reported amongst them as a 
man wholly mad. I trust there is enough of method in my madness to 
expose all their treachery to Christ and His Church. About fifteen of 
the chief Protestant noblemen, with the Duke of Gordon at their head, 
have begun to organize amongst themselves a Protestant Association, to 
act not as a body, but with a mutual understanding in their several 
parts of the country. They begin now to perceive the sanctimonious 
mask of Satan concerning the Sacraments when it is too late. . . . Eliza- 
beth was with us a good part of yesterday. We went out and looked at 
some houses, but as yet I see none to my mind ; and, indeed, I am rather 
disposed, if I could bring it about, to take a lodging for you and the 
children somewhere in the neighbourhood of town, and to come in and 
out myself for some months until you are strong. I would like to hear 

your mind upon this subject Miss Macdonald and I amuse 

ourselves amongst hands with reading a very curious German book of 
travels, full of beautiful plates — above all measure interesting. I think 
I shall be beyond you in German when you return, for I begin to like 
it very much : it is a rare book for Maggy, the plates are so magnifi- 
cent. I heard from George the other day by Mr H , and I have 

remitted him £30 in clearing of his expenses and enabling him to 

return Would you believe it, that the Baptist minister refused 

to baptize Miss C , because she declared that she expected the 

grace of the Holy Ghost in the ordinance ? Indeed, there is no saying 

to what lengths they will go. They will now stop at nothing 

God preserve my Margaret and Samuel unto the eternal kingdom ! 1 
often think woefully of the pair that are gone before ; but I ought not. 
The Lord preserve me from all murmurings ; but I am a very wicked 
man. The Lord alone can keep me in peace and tranquillity." 

" Mornington Terrace, Hampstead Road, 
4th August. 
" On this day and at this hour, thirty-six years ago, I entered into 
this sinful world, and very evil have been the days of my pilgrimage, 
and sore grieved am I this morning to look out upon the past. No- 
thing could comfort me but the blessed revelation that it is so ordered 
of the Lord that our flesh should be full only of sin, and that by this 
ordinance His glory is advanced. This is not, ' Let us sin that grace 
may abound/ but it is, ' The grace of God aboundeth by my sin/ and, 

16 



242 INSTRUCTIONS AND PRAYERS. 

therefore, I am born a sinner, and, being so, I am not to be discontented 
or murmur against God, but betake myself to the remedy which He 
hath provided, which remedy will only lay open the disease more, and 
force us out of ourselves into the Redeemer. The number of sins 
which I have committed are to me profitable to reflect upon only as 
they confirm the truth, which, by faith, I have received and hold, that 
the whole race of mankind is fallen, and, as such, cannot cease from sin. 
He that hath believed this is further advanced than the greatest 
spiritualist, who seeks and sighs that he may be torn up with racking 
emotions and painful workings of remorse. The work of the Spirit, in 
convincing of sin, is not by agonizing convictions, and bringing of us, 
as it were, to hell's mouth, but by a calm and settled avoiding of our- 
selves and the fallen world, always for the preference of Christ and the 
world to come. I therefore desire and pray, both for myself and for 
my own dear wife, that we may at all times prefer the glory of God in 
Christ revealed, to that temporary well-being of the creature, which is 
to be found in this fallen world. There is a well-being and perfection 
of the creature to be found here, otherwise there would be no glory to 
God in our preference of that eternal perfection which we have in 
Christ. In this way the Holy Spirit acteth in and upon us, not by 
making us insensible to the worldly well-being, but, while we are alive 
thereto, by leading us to prefer our better being in Christ. He hath 
not a pleasure in cruelty, or torturing us with what so many seek to 
have worked up in their experiences of a great and grievous sort, but 
He delighteth in our peace and joy, and giveth us to see the excellency 
and loveliness of our blessed Jesus, who hath been tried with every 
infirmity of the fallen creature, which in us becometh sin, but in Him 
stayed at infirmity and temptation. In perceiving that our Lord's 
flesh was altogether such as ours, we may well be comforted, dear Isa- 
bella, to abide in this flesh, all-sinful though it be, and await the good 
pleasure of the Lord. So may we, having a body conversant only with 
wickedness, and in itself competent only to the suggestion of sin, be so 
possessed with the Spirit of Christ (not the Holy Ghost in his un- 
limited Divinity, but the Spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Ghost pro- 
ceeding through the man -soul of Christ, and bringing with Him the 
humanity of Christ, His holy humanity, to bear up against, and over- 
come, our wicked humanity. Oh, blessed mystery !) that we may, 
notwithstanding of the flesh animated only to evil, be able to love and 
obey God from the heart. In all these thoughts, instructions, and 
prayers to and for my beloved wife, I have my sweet children in my 
mind no less than their mother, whom God beholdeth all represented 
by me. So may I bear them for ever on my heart ! 

" Our dear friend, Mr Paget of Leicester, was in church all yester- 
day, and kindly came down to converse, during part of the interval. I 
wish you knew him. He is truly a divine — more of a divine than all my 

acquaintances He also, like Campbell and Erskine, sees Christ's 

death to be on account of the whole world, so as that He might be the 
Lord both of the election and the reprobation, and that it is the will of 
God to give eternal life by the Holy Ghost to whom it pleaseth Him. 
I first came to the conviction of that truth on that Saturday, when, at 



THE LOST TRIBES. 243 

Harrow, after breakfasting with a bishop and a vicar, I sat down to 
prepare a meal for my people. He thinks the Calvinistic scheme con- 
fines this matter by setting forth Christ as dying instead of, whereas 
there is no stead in the matter, but on account of, for the sake of, to 
bring about reconciliation. He also thinks that the righteousness of 
Christ which is imputed to us, is not the righteousness of the ten com- 
mandments, which He kept, and which is only a fleshly righteousness, 
but the righteousness into which He hath entered by the resurrection — 
that super-celestial glory whereof we now partake, being one with Him, 
and living a resurrection life. This I believe ; and I take it to be a most 
important distinction indeed. 

" Mr Drummond was at church last night, and brought me as far as 
Miss Macdonald's in his carriage. He was telling me a very extraor- 
dinary piece of intelligence, if it be true, namely, that the Tribes have 
been discovered, twenty millions in number, inhabiting the region north 
of Cashmere and towards Bokhara, in the great central plain of Asia. 
It would seem that there came men from them to Leipsic fair, who 

brought this intelligence. They were trading in Cashmere shawls 

I will let you know more of this when I hear further concerning it. I 
am to dine with Mr Drummond this day week, to settle who are to be 
of the Albury Conference. He seems to think that we must select with 
more caution, as some of the people last year have not been very faithful. 
I hope it is only malicious report. Oh that we were filled with the 
love and the life of Christ ! I have had but a restless night, and I write 
this fasting. It is just striking twelve upon the Somers-town church, 
which is almost right opposite my window, with a green grass park full 
of milch cows* between, which I overlook on this sweet autumn-like 
morning. My dear brother ! oh, my brother ! how oft, on such morn- 
ings, have we rejoiced in our childhood together ; and, behold, thy visible 
part moulders in the dust far away, and mine abideth still. May we 
meet at the throne of the glory of God ! This is not a prayer for the 
dead, but for the living. Miss Macdonald is to come at twelve to write. 
What excellence is wrapped up in that name — right-hearted, tender- 
hearted woman ! Thou art, indeed, a comfort to me in the absence of 
my wife and children, — worth many sisters. Farewell, my dear Isabella ; 
make no tarrying to return ; our time may be short together, let it be 
sweet. I bless the children in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost." 

" 15 th August. 

fc God hath enabled us, my dear wife, to be in perfect resignation to 
His will, and in much affliction to say, ' Thy will be done ! ' His act- 
ings in Providence are the declarations of His sovereignty, and our re- 
ceiving them with thankfulness is our thankful acknowledgment of the 
same. _ Therefore, to me and mine be it according to the will of God. I 
did rejoice exceedingly when I found that He had been pleased to shine 
on us with His face, and I trust He will continue to do so more and 
more. It is very sweet to me to receive your letters, and to bear the 
share of your burdens. I have thought it might conduce to your health 

* This description will startle the present inhabitants of that crowded and 
busy district. 



244 ARRANGEMENT ABOUT HIS TRINITY SERMONS. 

and the children's to try the air of Monimail, and, if that did not recruit 
you, might it not be advisable to try the very mild air of Annan or 
Moffat ? But act in this matter as you judge best. I think our 
desires are equal to be separated no longer than is absolutely 
necessary. 

" Your prayers concerning my books have been answered in one re- 
spect already, that yesterday and to-day I have been directed, I think, 
in great wisdom, and delivered from great perplexity. You know how 
the book for the Church hath passed to three volumes. It is now my 
purpose to make it three complete volumes, and not to burden the 
Church with the risk, but to give them Mr Drummond's book,* which 
I think will come into immediate and wide circulation, the expense 
being already provided for. And now, having the other work on my 
hand, I propose adding to the first part another discourse upon the 
' Method of the Incarnation,' which will complete the whole doctrine .... 
and this done, I offer the thousand copies to any bookseller in Edinburgh, 
being resolved to bring it out in the heart of my Mother Church, as 
containing the whole doctrine on which she is become so feeble, and 
containing, besides, much prophetic matter, and much national and 
ecclesiastical, which may prepare the way for the other work, upon 
which I find I must at least spend a diligent winter. This, therefore, I 
intend immediately to arrange for, by means of my friend, Mr Bridges, 
to whom I will write, and ask him to negotiate with the booksellers for 
me. This I think a very great deliverance, and humbly trust to see 
prosperous unto the Church of Christ and the glory of God. The ad- 
ditional discourse will bring the first volume up to the size of the other 
two, being 400 pages ; and I will distinctly state the reason of it to be 
my becoming aware of the existence of the heresy in the Church. Be of 
good cheer : the Lord is not raising a controversy about these things 
for naught. 

" I am now sleeping at Mr Hamilton's, but working here with my 
most faithful fellow- workman ; and I trust attaining to deeper and 
deeper insight into the mystery of God, as also is my flock. To-night 
we begin Ezekiel at Mr Tudor's, and I trust the Lord will be with us. 
Mr Marsh intends to be of our party. And Miss Macdonald has con- 
sented to accompany me Mr Drummond told us that the new 

London College was an idea of the Archbishop's, thrown out to the 
King, without thinking he would approve it. But he did at once, and 
the Archbishop pledged the Bishops, who were invited to Lambeth, 

knowing not wherefore, as a Bishop told Mr . When they were 

come together, the Archbishop told them he had pledged them to the 
King. They were loath, but could not draw back, and consented, in the 
hope it might come to nothing. The Lord leads men blindly ; it is now 
come to £100,000, and will go on, I hope, to the defeat of the infidel, 
or to the showing out the Dissenters as the opposers of religion estab- 
lished, and the preferrers of infidelity un-established, and the establish- 
ers of it. Dr Sumner, now Bishop of Chester, was in Hatchard's, and 
said to a clergyman whom he met there, ' I have a note here to wait 

* By " Mr Drummond's book," Irving evidently means the Last Days — 
Mr Drummond, it would appear, having specially suggested or approved it. 



CONTRACT WITH PUBLISHERS. 245 

upon the Duke of Wellington. Tell me where he lives.' He went, 
was back in about ten minutes, and the clergyman was still there. ' You 
have soon got your business over. 5 ' Yes, and in so short a time I am 
promoted to the see of Chester. I was shown into a room,— in came 
the Duke : Are you Dr Sumner ? I am commanded to offer you the 
bishopric of Chester. Do you accept it or not ? Yes. Then put down 
your name here. Good morning.' And so he left him. This is from 
good authority, Mr Drummond says. T send it to amuse you and 

your father The Lord bless you and my children, and all your 

house." 

" 18th August. 

" I am glad to-day to have no accounts from you, concluding that 
dear Samuel is recovering, and that the mild weather will be blessed to 
the speedy restoration of your strength ; yet, while I thus hope and 
pray, I desire to submit myself and mine to the great Sovereign Dis- 
poser, who ordereth all according to the pleasure of His own will. I 
feel that this is, indeed, to feel and to act upon my election of God, to 
surrender all things unto Him as a righteous and tender father, in 
which I know you labour along with me. By the blessing of God I 

continue equal to my duties I am, indeed, very anxious that you 

should remove before those cold winds, which proved in God's hand 
fatal to our dear Edward. Whenever you do propose it, you should 
begin to have preparations made for your removal in such time as to 
leave you nothing to do for a day or two before, but to take leave of 

your family and step into the carriage or the boat You may 

think this is shooting far ahead, but I am, indeed, desirous that you 
and my children should be with me as soon as is consistent with health 
and safety ; — for I dread these east winds, and I long to be your nurse, 
if not in bodily, at least in spiritual matters. 

" I have signed a contract with Seeley for the three volumes, to the 
first of which I intend to add a fifth sermon, demonstrative of Christ's 
true humanity. I take all the risk, pay the printers, and have a guinea 
for each copy, allowing him £5 per cent., which, if they sell, will leave 
me £1000, and the_ expenses of printing, &c, will be about half of it. 
It is provided that I may have separate agents for Glasgow and Edin- 
burgh, with whom (Collins and Oliphant, I propose, with your judg- 
ment) I will make a similar contract for those which they may sell. 
Miss Macdonald has already pressed upon me £300, which she has no 
use for at the bankers, to pay the printing. It is a book for much good 
or evil, both to the Church and myself, I distinctly foresee. I intend 
to read it all over with the utmost diligence, and correct it with the 
greatest care. The other book is proceeding fast — we are now about 
the 350th page ; it will be about 450. I have the sweetest testimonies, 
both from Ireland and from Mr Maclean, to my book on Baptism — or 
rather, I should say, yours — for to you, I believe, the thoughts were 
given, as to you they are dedicated. My little tale is now completed, 
about eighteen pages, and I have asked a revise, that I may send it to 
you under cover. We have had a pro-re-nata meeting of Presbytery, 
and I am much exhausted. I shall now close with my blessing ; the 
blessing of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be upon the head of my 
dear wife, and my two children, for ever and ever." 



246 TALE OF THE MARTYRS. 

The "little tale" here referred to was a quaint and graceful 
little narrative, entitled a Tale of the Times of the Martyrs, 
which his countryman, Allan Cunningham, then engaged in 
the arduous occupation of editing an Annual, had persuaded 
him to write. The Annual in question was the Anniversary, a 
publication which, I believe, lived and died in one appearance. 
Irving' s story is a fine piece of writing, in the same style of 
minute and simple narrative as his journals, but is chiefly re- 
markable as his only attempt in the lighter form of literature, 
excepting, indeed, another brief narrative, equally minute, 
quaint, and melancholy, entitled The Loss of the Abeona, which 
appeared in Fraser's Magazine nearly about the same time. 
Both are true, detailed, and simple to the last degree, and con- 
vey the reader into a primitive world of heightened, but pro- 
foundly reserved, Scotch imagination, very remarkable and im- 
pressive in its way. How he could have found time for such 
elaborate, minute cabinet pictures, amid all his great labours and 
studies, is more than one can understand. 

His next letters are occupied with a project of visiting 
Harrogate, which Mr Drumrnond had proposed to him. Irving's 
health was shaken at the time ; at least he was in such a con- 
dition of discomfort, as the strongest frames, shut out from ex- 
ternal nature, and pursued by an incessant flood of thought, 
are naturally liable to. His doctor told him that, " as my com- 
plaints proceed rather from an excess of health and disarrange- 
ment of the functions through much thought, they (the Harro- 
gate waters) would be of little good or evil to so robust a 
person ;" yet, tempted by Mr Drummond's society, and by 
the fact that Harrogate was so far on his way to the North, 
whither he was anxious to go to bring home his wife, of whose 
prolonged absence he began to be very impatient, he seems to 
have persuaded himself to the contrary, and went accordingly. 
From Harrogate he writes as follows : — 

" 9th September, 1828. 
"My dear Isabella, — We arrived here last night about twelve 
o'clock, and now that I have paid my respects to the well and breakfast, 
I sit down to write you with Mr Drummond's pen, ink, and paper, but 
with my own heart. . . I do trust this my coming here is ordered of the 
Lord for the restoration of my strength, that I may serve Him with more 
diligence and ability during the winter. Lately, there has been too great 
a sympathy between my head and my stomach, so much so as to cause 

slight headaches ever after eating I doubt not that the root of the 

matter is study, which of late has been with me of a deeper, mtenser, 
and clearer kind than at any former period of my life, as I think will ap- 
pear in the things which are now in the hands of the printers. Besides 
the conclusion of my book on the Last Times, I have written 150 or 160 



A TRUE APOSTOLICAL CHURCH. 247 

ofMissMacdonald's pages upon the Method of the Incarnation. . . . It will 
be a body and centre to the whole discourse, which now has a perfectly 
logical method : 1. The origin or fountain-head of the whole in the will 
of God. 2. The end of it unto His glory. 3. The method of it by the 
union with the fallen creature. 4. The act of it by the life and death of 
the God-man, and His descent into hell. 5. The fruits of it in grace 
and peace to mankind ; and finally, conclusions concerning the Creator 
and the creature. If I mistake not, my dear Isabella, there is much 
more to God's glory in that volume than in all my other writings put 
together. ... I have been strongly impressed, at the conclusion of the 
book, with the necessity of undertaking a work upon the Holy Spirit 
and the Church, but whether in the way of a completion of the introduc- 
tion to Ben-Ezra, or in a separate treatise, I am not yet resolved ; and 
then, if God spare me, I undertake a work upon the Trinity. What most 
blessed themes these are ! They ravish my heart, and fill me with the 
most enlarged and exquisite delight. . . . Oh, my dear Isabella, how I 
long to be with you again, and to be one with you, unseparated by dis- 
tance of place or interruption of vision, and to embrace my dear children! 
God grant me patience and constancy of affection, and a heart of more 
tenderness." 

"17th. September. 

" I dare say this water would do me good, if I were to stay long 
enough, for it seems to enter into strong controversy with my complaint, 
and I think in the end would overcome it. But stay I cannot, for my 
communion hastens, and my duties call me to London. This is truly 
my chief reason for not delaying my journey to Scotland so long as you 
seem to have desired. To remain separate for a whole half-year from 
my wife and children is to me no small trial. When God requires it, I 
trust I shall be able to submit to it ; but when there is no such call, I 
freely confess myself little disposed to it. . . . Besides, though we know 
differently, such separations lead to idle speculation, which it is good to 
prevent. That it is possible to prevent intrusion in London I have found 
during the last two months ; and if London do not agree with you, I 
should be glad to take a place for you wherever you please, but I con- 
fess myself very loath to be separated from you and my children longer 
than is necessary, and shall be slow in consenting to it again. 

ei The other day the new Bishop of Chester, Dr Sumner, confirmed 
about two or three hundred persons. He had been instituted, or conse- 
crated, only the day before at Bishopthorpe, the residence of the Arch- 
bishop of York, and made this his first duty. It was to me very im- 
pressive, and I hope very profitable. . . . His brother, the Bishop of 
Winchester, bore him company, and I was much impressed with the 
episcopal authority and sanctity of their appearance. Indeed, the more 
I look into the Church of England, the more do I recognize the marks 
of a true Apostolical Church, and desire to see somewhat of the same 
ecclesiastical dignity transferred to the office-bearers of our Church ; 
which hath the same orders of bishops, priests or presbyters or elders, 
and deacons, whereof the last is clean gone, the second little better, and 
the first hath more of worldly propriety, or literary and intellectual 
character, than of episcopal authority and grave wisdom. Oh, that the 



248 the year's work. 

Lord would revive His work in our land ! In what I have said I do not 
affect the ceremony, or state, or wealth of the English Church, but de- 
sire to see some more of the true primitive and Scottish character of our 
Church restored. I would wish every parish minister to fulfil the 
bishop's office, every elder the priest's, and every deacon the deacon's ; 
and I am convinced that, till the same is attempted, through faith in the 
ordinances, we shall not prosper in the government and pastorship of our 
churches. 

" To-day I have received a copy of Dr Hamilton's book against 
Millenarianism, and have been reading it all this morning : I think it 
breathes a virulent spirit, and seeks occasions of offence. I receive my 
share of his censure. I said to your father I would answer it, but as 
yet I have found nothing to answer, save his attempt to expose my in- 
consistencies with others, and theirs with me. Now, verily, I am not 
called upon to be consistent with any one but God's own Word. Still, 
if I had time, I would, for the sake of the Church of Scotland, which I 
love, and to which I owe my duty, undertake an answer to it ; but at 
present my hands are filled. I wish Samuel would break a spear with 
him. 

" I shall drink the waters till Friday morning, and then proceed on 
my way to York, from which I will take the first coach that I can get to 
Edinburgh On Monday, I trust, the Lord willing, I will be per- 
mitted to embrace you all. . . Tell Maggy that she must make herself 
ready to set out on this day week for London. My dear Samuel is oft 
on my mind at the throne of Grace. God alone can convey my messages 
to him." 

So concluded this separation, which at length made the 
solitary head of the house impatient, and produced the 
nearest approach to ill-temper which is to be found in any of 
Irving's letters. He conveyed his family home to Miss Mac- 
donald's house in the end of September, where they seem to 
have remained for a considerable time, their kind hostess form- 
ing one of the household. The ceaseless occupation of this 
year is something wonderful to contemplate. The Homilies on 
Baptism, the three volumes of sermons, and the Last Days, 
were but a portion of the works so liberally undertaken, and 
so conscientiously carried out. In the intervals of those 
prodigious labours he had not only his own pastoral work to 
carry on from week to week, but, by way of holiday, indulged 
in a preaching tour with sermons every day ; threw himself 
into the -concerns of the time with a vehemence as unusual as 
it was all opposed to the popular tide of feeling, and became 
the centre of a description of study, known, when it throws 
its fascination upon men, to be the most absorbing which can 
occupy human intelligence. In this height and fulness of his 
life men of all conditions sought Irving, with their views of 
Scripture and prophecy. He heard all, noted all, and set to 




PASTORAL DUTIES. 249 

work in his own teeming brain to find place and arrangement 
for each. The patience with which he listens to every man is 
as remarkable as the cloud of profound and incessant thought 
in which his mind seems enveloped, without rest or interval ; 
but his perpetual human helpfulness is equally notable. When 
the Presbytery of London, doubtless moved by his own exer- 
tions, sends forth a pastoral letter to the Scotch community in 
London, it is Irving who takes the pen and pours forth, like a 
prophet, his burden of grief and yearning, his appeal and en- 
treaty, and denouncing voice, calling upon those baptized 
members of the Church of Scotland who have forgotten their 
mother, to return to her care and love ; and scarcely are these 
grave entreaties over, before, at a friend's impulsion, he is 
again devoting his leisure hours — those hours full of everything 
but rest — to that grave picture of the martyr's son, which must 
have startled the ordinary readers of Annuals into the strangest 
emotion and amazement ; — while conjoined with all this is the 
entire detail of a pastor's duties — visits of all kinds, meetings 
with young men, death-bed conferences, consultations of session 
and presbytery ; into all of which he enters with an interest 
such as most men can only reserve for the most important 
portions of their work. So full a stream of life, all rounded and 
swelling with great throbs of hope and solemn expectation, 
seldom appears among the feeble and interrupted currents of 
common existence. It is impossible to understand how there 
could be one unoccupied moment in it ; yet there are moments 
in which he reads German with Miss Macdonald, or enters into 
the fascinating gossip of Henry Drummond, or consults with 
the young wife, Elizabeth, over her new plenishing, and what is 
needful to her house. Though they meet in solemn session in 
the evening, upon the high mysteries of Ezekiel, he makes 
cheerful errands forth with this sister to look at houses, and 
prepares by anticipation for the return of those still dearer to 
him, and has domestic tidings of all his friends to send to his 
lingering and delicate wife. Amid all, he feels that this time, 
so full and prosperous — this period in which he has come to 
the middle of life's allotted course, the top of the arch, as 
Dante calls it, — is a time of wonderful moment to himself no 
less than to his Church. He feels that his studies have been 
" of a deeper, intenser, and clearer kind than at any former 
period of my life." He " distinctly foresees" that one of the 
books he is about to publish is " a book for much good or evil, 
both to the Church and myself," though convinced that there 
is also more for G-od's glory in it than "in all my other writings 
put together :" he has, in short, come to the threshold of a new 



250 THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW WORLD. 

world, which yet he cannot see, but which vaguely thrills him 
with prophetic tremors — a world to him radiant with ever- 
unfolding truth, persecutions, glories, martyrdoms, one like unto 
the Son of Man in the midst of the fiery burning with him, 
and the Lord visible in the flesh, vindicating his saints at the 
end. Such was not the future which awaited the heroic devoted 
soul ; but such was the form in which his anticipations pre- 
sented it now. 

I may be pardoned for lingering on this splendid and over- 
flowing year. Irving had already controversies enough on 
hand; vulgar antagonists, whom he scorned; assaults from 
without which could not harm him, having no point of vantage 
upon his heart ; but nothing which touched his life or honour. 
He had enemies ; but none whose enmity wounded him. Every- 
thing he had touched as yet had opened and sublimed under 
his hand ; and no authoritative voice had yet interfered to at- 
tempt to drive back to doctrine and forms of words a man 
whose faith seized upon a Divine reality instead, and converted 
dogmas into things. He stood, open-eyed and eager, trembling 
on the verge of an opening world of truth, every particular of 
which was yet to gleam forth as vivid on his mind as those 
which he had already apprehended out of the dim domain of 
theology. And other men, who had also found light unth ought 
of gleaming out of the familiar text which use had dulled to 
most, were gathering round him, bringing each his trembling 
certainty, his new hope. Whether they were right or wrong 
had as yet come under the question of no serious tribunal. 
"Wrong or right, it was the love of Grod glowing radiant over 
the human creatures he had made that inspired them all ; and 
to many an eye less vivid than Irving's this wonderful combin- 
ation seemed the beginning of a new era, the manifestation 
of a higher power. For himself, he was at the height of his 
activity and the fulness of his powers : his anticipations were 
all grand, like his thoughts. He looked for suffering on an 
heroic scale, not the harassing repetitions of Presbyterial pro- 
secution ; and he looked to be splendidly vindicated at the 
last by the Lord himself, in glory and majesty. His heart 
swelled and his thoughts rose upon that high tide of hope and 
genius ; shades of passing ailment might now and then glide 
across him ; but it was "excess of strength" resisting the in- 
tellectual and spiritual commotions within, and not any prevision 
of bodily weakness. His friends stood round him close and 
cordial, an undiminished band ; and every vein throbbing with 
life, and every capacity of heart and mind in the fullest sway 
of action, he marched along in the force and fulness of his man- 






VAUGHAN OF LEICESTER. 251 

hood, prescient of splendid conflict and great sorrow ; unaware 
and unbelieving of failure or defeat. 

In the beginning of winter be paid a hurried visit to 
Leicester, to his friend Mr Yaughan, whose life was then nearly 
drawing to its close. The short time they appear to have had 
together was spent " conversing about the things pertaining to 
our high calling as ministers of the Grospel and Church of 
Christ." And the letter in which Irving records this is ended 
by an amusing conjugal advice, more in the strain of ordinary 
husbands than is common to his chivalrous and tender heart : 
■ — " I will hope to be with you, under Miss Macdonald's roof, 
on Thursday evening, which let us have quietly together," he 
writes. " And therefore be not over-wearied, for nothing 
afflicts me so much as to see you incapable of enjoying the 
society and love for which you do not always give me credit, 
but which I trust I always feel." And in a postscript, he adds 
a message to the little daughter, now, at three years old, 
capable of entering into the correspondence. " Tell Maggy," 
he says, " that at Dunstable a man would have sold me twelve 
larks for a shilling, to bake into a pie, four-and-twenty black- 
birds baking in a pie ; and that at Newport-Pagnell one of the 
horses laid down when he should have started to run, which is 
like Meg, not Maggy, when she will not do Ma's bidding, but 
stands still and cries. Not Maggy, but Meg ; for Maggy is 
like the other three, who would have gone on cheerfully, except 
when Meg is restive." This is the first appearance of the little 
woman in the father's letters, which afterwards contain many 
communications for her. A week or two later he writes from 
Albury, where the second prophetical conference was now taking 
place, and after a brief announcement to his wife of his arrival, 
devotes his second letter from thence entirely to his three- 
year-old correspondent. I find no more serious account of 
this second meeting than the one Irving thus sends to his 
child :— 

" My Maggy, — Papa is living in a great house with a great many 
men who preach. The house is Mr Drummond's and Lady Harriet 

Drummond's. They have two daughters and two little boys This 

house where we live is all round with great trees, like great-grandpapa's, 
and the black crows build their nests, and always cry caw, caw, caw. 
There is a sweet little river that runs murmuring along, making a gentle 

noise among the trees. And there is a large, large garden Now, 

my Maggy,tell your papa what he and the great many preaching gentle- 
men are doing at Albury Park, where Mr Drummond and Lady Harriet 
live ? We are all reading the Bible, which is God's Word— the book we 
read at worship. God speaks to us in that book, and we tell one another 



252 SECOND ALBURY CONFERENCE. 

what He tells to us. Every morning, about half -past six o'clock, a man 
goes round and awakens us all. Then, soon after, comes a maid, like 

Elizabeth, and puts on a fire in all our rooms, and then we get up 

Then we go down-stairs into a great room and sit round a great table, 
and speak concerning God and Christ. Here is the table, and all the 
gentlemen about it." (Here follows a rude drawing of the table, with 
the names of all the members of the conference scribbled in, in their 
places, Irving's own seat being distinguished by the title, " My Papa.") 
" But it is time for dinner. Farewell, my dear Maggy. Mamma will 
tell all this to you, and you must tell it all to Miss Macdonald and little 
brother. 

" The Lord bless my Maggy ! 

" Your Papa, 

"Edwakd Irving." 

The Albury conference once more produced its volume of 
records, travestied by a lifeless form and obsolete treatment, 
out of all human interest ; but in Irving's domestic chronicle 
retains no memorial but this simple description. Immediately 
after its conclusion his father-in-law, Dr Martin, writes thus to 
one of his younger daughters : — 

" We had a long letter from Isabella the other day. All with her 
seems to be well. Edward's visit to Albury had not, she thinks, done 
him much good, in body at least. The vehemence with which he goes 
after every object that impresses him is extraordinary. Some things 
stated at Albury had impressed him much with the ignorance of the 
poorer population of London, and with the sin of those who are more 
enlightened in not doing more for their instruction ; and he has resolved 
to preach every night to the poor of London and its vicinity, while Mr 
Scott is to do, or at least to attempt to do, the like in Westminster. 
The Lord be with them ! But there are limits to mortal strength, — Mr 
Scott's is not great, and Edward's, though more than ordinary, is not 
invincible. I suppose his conviction of the near approach of the Second 
Advent has been increased by his attendance on the late meeting ; and 
viewing it as the hour of doom to all who are not reconciled to God, 
he feels it the more imperatively his duty to warn all to flee from the 
wrath to come. After giving the subject the most careful and impartial 
consideration I can," adds the sober-minded Scottish pastor, "I am un- 
able to see things as he and his friends do ; nay, I am more and more 
convinced that they are wrong. But supposing them to be right, and 
they doubtless imagine they are, his conduct, which many will be apt to 
represent as that of a madman, is that of a generous lover of his fellow- 
creatures, and a faithful ambassador of Christ." 

Such was not the spirit, however, in which Irving's devi- 
ations from the ordinary views were to be generally received. 
He concluded this year with enough of these deviations to alarm 
any prudent friend. On the subject of the Millennium and on 






MUTTERINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 253 

that of Baptism (bis doctrine on which differs from that com- 
monly known as Baptismal Regeneration by the most inappre- 
ciable hair's-breadth), the authorities of the Church seem to 
have had nothing to say to him, and to have tacitly admitted 
these matters to be open to a diversity of opinion. How, doing 
this, the much more abstruse question concerning the Humanity 
of Christ should have been exempted from the same latitude 
and freedom, I am entirely at a loss to conceive, seeing it is, of 
all disputed questions, perhaps the most unfit to be argued be- 
fore a popular tribunal. But the mutterings of the storm were 
already audible ; and Irving visibly stood on a tremulous eleva- 
tion, not only with dawning lights of doctrine, unseen by his 
brethren, around him, but even more deeply at variance in 
spirit with the time and all its ways. As if his own responsi- 
bilities, in the shape of doctrine, had not been enough, he had 
identified himself, and thrown the glory of his out-spoken, un- 
hesitating championship over that which was shortly to be 
known as the Row Heresy. Everywhere he had " committed 
himself; " thought or calculation of prudence not being in the 
man. But at present, though his friends did not all agree with 
him, and though the scribblers of the religious press were already 
up in arms against him, no one seems to have feared any inter- 
ruption of his triumphant and splendid career. Like other in- 
vincible generals, he had inspired his army with a confidence 
unconquerable in himself and his destiny. Some of the very 
closest in that half ecclesiastical, half domestic circle which 
gathered warmly round him in the new church at Regent 
Square, were afterwards to turn upon him or sadly drop from 
his side in horror of the heresy, to which now, in its first un- 
conscious statement, they had given in their delighted adhesion. 
They did not know it was heresy for long months, almost years 
afterwards : they believed in him with a unanimity and enthu- 
siasm seldom paralleled. Downfal or confusion, as it seemed, 
could not approach that fervent and unwearied herald of Grod. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1829. 



The following year opened with unabated activity. The 
courage and hopefulness, equally unabated, with which Irving 



254 DEGREE OF D. D. 

entered upon it, will be seen from a letter addressed to Dr Chal- 
mers, and apparently written in the very conclusion of Decem- 
ber, 1828 (the date being torn off), in which it will be seen 
that the laborious man, not weaned, among all his other tri- 
umphs, from academical ambition, proposed, and was ready to 
prepare for an academical examination, in order to obtain the 
highest title in theology. This letter was written immediately 
after Dr Chalmers's entrance upon the duties of the Divinity 
Chair in Edinburgh. 

" My dear and honoured Friend, — I desire to congratulate you 
upon the welcome which you have received in the University of Edin- 
burgh, in which I pray that you may have much wisdom and long life 
to labour. I agree with that which I have gathered of your sentiments 
with respect to the excessive duties of the chair, beyond the reach of 
any single man to discharge them aright. Biblical criticism should be 
the chief object of the Hebrew chair, not the teaching of the letters 
and the grammar ; and, certainly, of the three years spent in the Greek 
class, at least one should be occupied in the critical study of the New 
Testament. There is no university in Europe (always excepting the 
thing called the London University) which would be so ashamed of 
God and theology as yours, against which I ought not to speak, for she 
is my Alma Mater. Then the Church History, instead of dawdling over 
the first four centuries, should especially be conversant with the history 
of the Church of Scotland, and the duties incumbent upon a parish 
priest ; in short, what belongs to the Churchman rather than the theo- 
logian, and the Hebrew what belongs to the scholar. Then it would 
be a Theological Eaculty indeed. But what pretensions these two 
classes have at present to that title I am at a great loss to discover. 
This is spoken in your own ear, for it but ill graces what I am now to 
turn to. 

"■ I have, you know, a great reverence for antiquity, and especially 
the antiquity of learning and knowledge : the venerable honours of the 
academy have ever been very dear to me. At the same time I love the 
discipline of a university, and set a great value upon a strict examination 
before any degree is conferred. On this account, when Sir John Sin- 
clair volunteered more than five years ago to obtain for me the degree 
of Doctor in Divinity, I rejected his offer, because I held it against all 
academical discipline. While I would not have the thing thus attain- 
ed, or thus conferred, there is no honour upon earth which I more 
desire, if the ancient discipline of sitting for it with my theses and de- 
fending them in the Latin tongue, submitting to examinations of the 
learned professors, were restored. Now, I wish you to inquire for me 
what is the ancient discipline of the university in respect to this de- 
gree ; and whether it be the privilege of a Master of Arts to ask and 
demand examination for his degree ; and how long he must have been 
an M.A. to entitle him to do so. I took my degree of A.M. in the year 
1809, that is nineteen years ago. If the privilege were granted me of 
appearing in my place, and submitting myself to trial, I should immedi- 



THE GREAT HOPE OF THE CHURCH. 255 

ately set about diligent preparations, and might be ready before the 
next winter, or about that time. I leave this in your hands, and shall 
wait your answer at your convenience. 

"We have had another Albury meeting, and are more convinced 
than ever of the judgments which are about to be brought upon Chris- 
tendom, and upon us most especially, if we should go into any league 
or confederacy with, or toleration of, the papal abomination. I intend, 
in a few days, to begin a letter to the Church of Scotland on the sub- 
ject. They intend setting forth quarterly a Journal of Prophecy, 
which may stir up the Church to a consideration of her hopes. I think 
there is some possibility of my being in Edinburgh next May. Will 
any of the brethren permit me the use of their church to preach a 
series of sermons upon the Kingdom, founded upon passages in the 
New Testament ? Sandy Scott is a most precious youth, the finest and 
the strongest faculty for pure theology I have yet met with. Yet a 
rough sea is before him, and, perhaps, before more than him. I trust 
the Lord will give you time and leisure to consider the great hope of 
the Church first given to Abraham : ' That she shall be heir of the 
world.' Certainly it is the very substance of theology. The second 
coming of the Lord is the ' point cle viie,' the vantage ground, as one of 
my friends is wont to word it, from which, and from which alone, the 
whole purpose of God can be contemplated and understood. You will 
sometimes see my old friend and early patron, Professor Leslie : please 
assure him of my grateful remembrances. I desire my cordial affection 
to Mrs Chalmers and the sisterhood. Farewell. The Lord prosper 
your labours abundantly, and thereto may your own soul be prospered. 
" Your faithful and affectionate friend and brother, 

"Edward Irving." 

This letter, sent by the hand of a relative, Dr Macaulay, 
who was " desirous of paying his respects to one whom he ad- 
mires and loves very much," was followed, at a very short in- 
terval, by another, asking advice on a very delicate point of 
ecclesiastical order, which Irving states as follows : — 

" London, 5th January, 1829, 
13, Judd Place, East. 
" My dear, Sir, — This case has occurred to us as a Session, on 
which it has been resolved to consult you, our ancient friend, and any 
other doctors or jurists. of the Church with whom you may please, for 
the better and fuller knowledge of the matter, to consult. It is, whe- 
ther the Church permit baptism by immersion or not. The standards 
seem not to declare a negative, but only to affirm that baptism by 
sprinkling is sufficient. In the Church of England, the rule of baptiz- 
ing infants is by immersion, and the exception is by sprinkling. I 
sought counsel of our Presbytery in this matter, which once occurred 
in an adult, as it has now occurred in an infant. They seemed to be of 
the mind that there was no rule, but only practice, against it, and ad- 
vised, upon the ground of expediency, to refrain The father, 

who is a member of the Church, is a most pious and worthy man, full 



256 irving's belief in his own orthodoxy. 

of forbearance to others, but very firmly, and from much reading, con- 
vinced of the duty of baptizing by immersion only. He has waited 
some time, and the sooner we could ascertain the judgment of the 

Church the better My own opinion is, that our standards leave 

it as a matter of forbearance, preserving the sprinkling, — the Church of 
England the same, preserving immersion. I am sorry to trouble you 
who have so much to do, but the mere writing of the judgment would 
satisfy us. And as you are now the head of the theological faculty, as 
well as our ancient friend, the Session thought of no other, at whose 

request I write 

" Your affectionate friend, 

"Edward Irving." 

So dutiful aud eager to know the mind of the Church was 
the man whose long conflict against her authorities was now 
just commencing. If Dr Chalmers answered these letters, 
the answers have not been preserved ; nor have I the least 
information what the head of the theological faculty said to 
that old-world application for an examination and trial by 
w r hich the candidate for theological honours might win his 
degree. Irving was never to get within sight of that testi- 
mony of the Church's approval — far from that, was verging, 
had he but known it, upon her censures and penalties. But 
though this year upon which he had just entered was one of 
the most strenuous and incessant defence and assertion of 
doctrine, though its whole space was occupied with renewed 
and ever stronger settings forth of the truth which with 
growing fervour he held to embody the very secret of the 
Grospel, his position, to his own apprehension, was in no re- 
spect that of a heretic assailed. On the contrary, he con- 
ceived himself to stand as the champion of Orthodox truth 
against a motley crowd of heretics ; and with this idea, calmly 
at first, and with more and more vehemence as he began to 
discover how r great was the array against him, devoted him- 
self to the assertion and proof of a doctrine which, when he 
stated it, he knew not that any man doubted. Throughout 
all his contentions he never abandoned this position. First 
surprised, then alarmed, not for himself, but for the Church, 
afterwards, and not till a long interval had elapsed, indig- 
nant, he continued steadily to hold this attitude. Even 
when the Church uttered her thunders, he stood dauntless, 
the Church's real champion, the defender of her orthodox 
belief, the faith once delivered to the saints. Such was his 
position, to his own thinking, in the struggle which was be- 
ginning. He did everything that man could do, privately, 
calmly, with unparalleled forbearance sometimes, sometimes 
with vehemence and rashness, to set forth fairly and fully 



MISSTATEMENTS OF HIS DOCTRINE. 257 

before the world the doctrine he held. He supported it with 
an array of authorities difficult to get over ; with quotations 
from the fathers and standards of entire Christendom, with 
arguments and appeals to Scripture, almost always with a 
noble eloquence which came warm from his heart. In private 
letters, in sermons, in every method by which he could come 
into communication with the world, he repeated, and ex- 
pounded, and defended this momentous matter of belief. 

It is unnecessary that I should give any account of a 
question which he states so fully and so often in his own 
words, nor is it my business to pronounce upon the right or 
wrong of a theological question. But I think I am warranted 
in pointing out again the deeply disingenuous guise in which 
this matter was first set before the public. "When the differ- 
ence appears thus, according to his own statement of it, 
" Whether Christ's flesh had the grace of sinlessness and in- 
corruption from its proper nature, or from the indwelling of 
the Holy Grhost, — I say the latter," it is a difference which 
certainly may exist, and may be discussed, but which cannot 
shock the most reverent mind. But when, on the other hand, 
it is stated as an heretical maintenance of the " sinfulness of 
Christ's human nature," the matter changes its aspect en- 
tirely, and involves something abhorrent to the most super- 
ficial of Christians. But in this way it was stated by every 
one of Irving' s opponents ; and attempts were made to lead 
both himself and his followers into speculations of what 
might have happened if the Holy Grhost had not, from its 
earliest moment of being, inspired that human nature, which 
were as discreditable to the questioners as aggravating to 
men who held the impossibility of sinfulness in our Saviour 
as warmly and entirely as did those who called them heretics. 
The real question was one of the utmost delicacy and diffi- 
culty, a question which the common world could only alter 
and travestie; re-presenting and re-confuting, and growing 
indignant over a dogma which itself had invented. Only by 
such a statement of it, which, if not distinctly false, was 
thoroughly disingenuous, could it at all have been brought 
into a platform question, for common discussion before the 
untrained and inexact public. 

In the early spring, the first number of the Morning 
Watch, a quarterly journal of prophecy, to which he alludes 
in his letter to Dr Chalmers as meditated by the leading 
members of the Albury Conference, came into being. Its 
editor was Mr Tudor, a gentleman now holding a high office 
in the Catholic Apostolic Church. (I take, without con- 

17 



258 THE MORNING WATCH. 

troversy, the name assumed by itself; gladly granting, as its 
members maintain, that to designate it a sect of Irvingites is 
equally unjust to its supposed founder and itself.) Irving 
took advantage by this publication to explain and open up 
the assailed doctrine, already popularly known as the doc- 
trine of the Humanity, reasserting all bis former statements 
with renewed force and earnestness. Besides this, the chief 
thing which appears to me remarkable in these early num- 
bers of the Morning Watch, is the manner in which Irving 
pervades the whole publication. Amid eight or ten inde- 
pendent writers his name occurs, not so much an authority, 
as an all-influencing, unquestionable presence, naturally and 
simply suggesting itself to all as somehow the centre of the 
entire matter. They speak of him as the members of a 
household speak of its head ; one could imagine that the 
name might almost be discarded, and " he " be used as its 
significant and unmistakeable symbol. To realize the fulness 
of this subtle, unspoken influence, it. is necessary to glance 
at this publication, which has fallen out of the recollection 
of the greater part of the world. I do not remember to have 
met any similar instance of unconscious, unquestioned pre- 
eminence. No man there but is ready to stand up for every 
word he utters, for every idea he advances ; ready, even 
before knowing what the accusation is, to challenge the 
world in his behalf. It is hero-worship of the most absolute, 
unconscious kind, — all the more absolute that it is uncon- 
scious, and that neither the object nor the givers of that loyal 
allegiance are aware to what extent it goes. 

Irving's letters are now dated from Judd Place, another 
street in the same locality, where he had again entered upon 
the possession of his own house. Here he remained as long 
as he occupied the Church in Regent Square. There are 
various doubtful traditions in existence which describe how 
he used to be seen lying upon the sooty London grass of the 
little oasis in Burton Crescent, his great figure extended 
upon the equivocal green sward, and all the children in those 
tiny gardens playing about and around him,— which was 
most like to be the case, though I will not answer for the 
tale. This entire district, however, most undistinguished 
and prosaic as it is, gathers an interest in its homely names, 
from his visible appearance amid its noise and tumult. His 
remarkable figure was known in those dingy, scorched streets, 
in those dread parallelograms of Bloomsbury respectability. 
The greater number of his friends were collected within that 
closely populated region, to which the new Church in Regent 



VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 259 

Square now gave a centre — as it still gives a centre to a little 
Scotch world, half unaware, half disapproving, of Irving, who 
tread the same streets and pray within the same walls, and 
are as separate and national as he. 

This spring was once more occupied by thoughts and pre- 
parations for another visit to Edinburgh, on the same high 
errand as had formerly engaged him there. A letter of 
anxious instructions to his friend, Mr Macdonald, about the 
necessary arrangements for the course of lectures he meant 
to deliver, shows that he had already more difficulty than on 
a former occasion in finding a place to preach in. 

" I yesterday received a most fraternal letter from Dr Dickson," he 
writes, " most politely and upon very reasonable grounds of damage 
and danger to the House, refusing me the use of the West Kirk, and I 
am perfectly satisfied. Indeed, it is as it should be, and as I antici- 
pated it would be. The subject I have to open is too common and 
concerning to be confined to the walls of a house : it ought to be open 
as the day to all hearers from the streets and the by-ways, and from 

everywhere You who know law, and are wise as concerneth 

this world as well as concerneth the world to come, see if there be any- 
thing to prevent me preaching in the asylum of the King's Park ; and, 
if not, then signify by public advertisement in one or two of the papers, 
and by handbill and otherwise, to this effect: — f I hereby give notice 
that, God willing and prospering, I will preach a series of discourses, 
opening the book of the Revelation in regular order, beginning on 
Tuesday, the 19th of May, at six o'clock in the evening; and con- 
tinuing each evening that week ; but in the week following, and to the 
end of the series, at seven o'clock in the morning (not to interfere with 
the hours of the General Assembly) ; and earnestly entreat as many of 
my fellow-churchmen as love the exposition of the holy Word, and that 
Book which is specially blessed and forbidden to be sealed, to attend 
on these discourses designed for the edification of the Church. The 
place of meeting will be in the open air (here insert the place), where 
our fathers were not afraid nor ashamed to worship. 

" ' Edward Irving, A.M. 
" ' Minister of the National Scotch Church, London.' 

" Let this be stuck up on the corner of every street ; and for the 
rest we will trust to God. I believe the Lord will not fail me in this 
purpose, from which nothing on earth shall divert me. I will do it, 
though they should carry me bound hand and foot to prison. So 
awfully necessary do I now see it to be. . . . . Let there be no tent : 
a chair on which I can sit and stand. Choose a place where the people 
may slope upwards, and so that we can wheel with the wind. Pray 
much for me. I never undertook so much or so important a thing. 
Ask the prayers of all who will not laugh it to scorn." 

These arrangements were, however, unnecessary. Edin- 



260 THE TWO LITTLE BALLAD- SINGERS. 

burgh, did not see that sight which might have been as strik- 
ing as any of the modern occurrences endowed with double 
picturesqueness by her noble scenery. The last represent- 
ative of the ancient prophets, heroic antique figure, noways 
belonging to vulgar life, did not utter his message under the 
shadow of the hills, with his audience ranged on the grassy 
slopes above him. A place was provided for his accommoda- 
tion, more convenient, if less noble, in Hope Park Chapel, 
situated in what is commonly called the south side of Edin- 
burgh ; and there he preached the second course of lectures, 
which he seems to have come to, in spite of all obstacles, 
with a still deeper sense of their importance than the first. 

Before going to Scotland, however, he paid a short visit 
to Birmingham, with which place, or rather with the Scotch 
congregation there, he appears to have had a great deal of 
intercourse. He seems to have preached three sermons there 
during his short stay ; but I refer to it only for the sake of 
the following letter to his little daughter : — 

" My own Meggy, — Papa got down from the coach, and his large 
book, and his bag, and his cane with the gold head. And a little 
ragged boy, and his little sister, with ballads to sell, not matches, but 
Dallads, trudged and trotted by papa's side. The boy said, ' I will 
carry your bag, sir.' Papa said, ' I have no pennies, little boy ; so 
go away.' But he would follow papa, he and his little sister, poor 
children ! So papa walked on with his bag under his cloak in one 
hand, and his book and his staff under his cloak in the other. It was 
dark, and the lamps were lighted, and it was raining, but still the little 
ragged boy and his little sister, with the ballads, followed papa — and 
the boy said, 'I will find you where Mr Macdonald lives.' So we 
asked, and walked through very many streets, and came to a house. 
And the door was open, and I said to the woman, ' Is Mr Macdonald 
in ? ' The woman said, ' No, sir, he is dining out.' Papa said, ' What 
shall I do ? I am come to preach for him to-morrow.' She said, 
'There is no sermon to-morrow: till Saturday.' Papa said, 'Are you 
sure ? ' She said, ' There is mass in the morning.' Now, my dear 
Meggy, the mass is a very wicked thing, and is not in our religion, but 
in a religion which they call Papacy. So papa knew by that word Mass 
that this was not the right Mr Macdonald's, but another one. So away 
papa trudged, his bag, his book, and his staff under his cloak, and the 
little ragged boy, and his sister with the ballads. Papa was angry at 
them because they would not go away, and had brought him to awrong 
place. But papa had pity upon them, and asked them about their papa 
and mamma. Their papa was dead, and their mamma was in bed sick at 
home. So papa took pity upon them, and gave them a silver sixpence 
— and they went away so glad. I heard them singing as they ran away 
home to their poor mother. Now papa trudged back again, not_ know- 
ing where to find the right Mr Macdonald. And papa took his bag, 



ANNAN. 261 

and put his cane through it, and swung it over his shoulder upon his 

back, as he does when he carries Meggy downstairs Now, 

after mamma has read this, tell it over to Miss Macdonald, and ask her 
to write papa with his stick and his bag over his back, and then tell 
the tale over to little brother, and kiss him, and say, ' This is a kiss 
from papa.' " 

The picturesque individuality which is inevitable to the 
man wherever he goes, shows in the most tender light in this 
little letter. The big, tender-hearted stranger, in his mys- 
terious cloak, with the little vagrants wandering after him 
in the wet Birmingham streets, paints himself more effectually 
than the kind domestic friend, whose custom it plainly was 
to make pictures for his little Maggy, could have done ; and 
who will not believe that this silver sixpence must have 
brought luck to the poor little ballad-sellers so unwittingly 
immortalized. ? 

Irving went to Edinburgh as usual by Annan, from which 
place he writes to his wife : — 

"Annan, 14th May, 1829. 

" I am arrived safe by the goodness and grace of God. ... I have 
been to see the minister and provost, and, as usual, find everything 
ready arranged to my mind. This night I begin my preaching at seven 
o'clock, and to-morrow at the same hour. On Saturday I go up the 
water to New Bridge village, on General D horn's property, to preach 

to the people on that hand This will serve the Ecclefechan and 

Middlebie people. On Sabbath I preach twice in the open air, if there 
be not room in the church. Give God praise with me that I am 
counted worthy to preach His truth. 

" I made a strong endeavour to gain my point of faith over the 
points of expediency at Manchester; I cannot say that I succeeded, 
and yet I am not without hopes that I have. They incline not to have 
the minister till they have the house respectably set forth : I protest 
against that, because I see no end to it. One thing, however, I have 
prevailed in, for which I doubt not I was sent to Manchester. I have 
received a full commission to provide a minister for Mr Grant's church 
at the works — and I have already chosen Mr Johnstone, your father's 
assistant. He will have £100 from the Grants themselves (munificent 
princes that they are !), with a house and garden, and their favour, 
which is protection from all want 

"Edinburgh, 19th May, 

" 60, Great King Street. 
"At Annan I went on with my labours on Thursday and Friday. 
. . . But the assembly on Sunday passed all bounds. The tent was 
pitched in the churchyard,— and that not holding the people, we went 
forth to Mr Dickson's field, where it is believed nearly ten thousand 
people listened to the Word, from twelve o'clock to half-past five, with 
an interval of only an hour. It was a most refreshing day to all of us. 



262 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

I passed on to Dumfries with Margaret and her baby that night, in 
order to get the mail next morning ; and so I arrived safe, leaving all 
my friends well, praised be the Lord. Before I left Annan, letters 
came from Dr Duncan, Dumfries, and Mr Kirkwood, entreating me to 
preach there, and considering it was so ordered of God, as that they 
should be the first to ask for my vacant Sabbath, I consented at once, 
and shall therefore return there the last day I am in Scotland. For in 
that part there is a strength, Kirkwood and the Dows and Burnside are 
firm as to the human nature of Christ, which none here is, except 
Thomas Carlyle. James Haldane has written a pamphlet against me, 
but there is no strength in it. I called at Dr Thomson's last night, 
and fixed to have an hour with him for conversation. Now, for the 
matter which I have to do in Edinburgh. Hope Park Chapel is the 
place I am to preach in, if it will hold the people. My commission 
everybody pronounces a good commission. But it will be stiffly called 
in question, and I fear will have a hard battle of it. Let the Lord 
decide what is best and wisest. . . . Sometimes I am troubled by the 
reproach of men ; but never forsaken or overcome. I desire an un- 
wearied interest in your prayers, and the prayers of all the flock. My 
letters will be regular, but, I fear, short, for very much is laid on me." 

The commission referred to above was a commission from 
the borough of Annan, by which Irving was empowered to 
represent it as an elder in the approaching General Assembly. 
It was the only way in which he could sit in that ecclesi- 
astical parliament ; and, though somewhat contradictory to 
his own lately expressed opinion, that the position of minis- 
ters and elders corresponded to the orders of bishop and 
priest, was in entire conformity with the ordinary Presby- 
terian idea, that ministers were but preaching elders, and 
were in reality members of the same ecclesiastical class. A 
warm discussion arose in the General Assembly when his 
commission was presented. It was one of those questions 
which, without being really matters of party difference, are 
invariably seized upon as party questions. One side of the 
house contended for his admission, the other against it. His 
defence was undertaken by Dr Andrew Thomson, one of the 
leaders of the Evangelical party, who very shortly after en- 
tered the lists against him in matters of doctrine ; but man- 
fully stood up now for the friend of Chalmers and Grordon, 
a man who, if not actually belonging to his own side, was 
leagued in the warmest amity with many of its members. 
Irving himself, before the matter was put to the vote, ap- 
peared, by permission of the Assembly, at the bar, to speak 
for himself. His speech is too long to quote : nor does he 
make any very vehement stand for his rights ; very probably 
feeling that it was at best a side- way of approaching that 



HTS COMMISSION REJECTED. 263 

venerable Assembly, which he held in so much honour. The 
appearance he makes is, indeed, more for the purpose of sup- 
porting the claims of his constituents, and their right to 
elect the superior instead of inferior degree of ruling elder, if 
it so pleased them, than on his own account. But he takes 
the opportunity, the first and the last which he ever had, of 
recommending to the Assembly " to take a parental care of 
the hundreds of thousands of their children who are now 
dwelling beyond their bounds." In this appeal he waxes 
warm. He, too, is " beyond their bounds ; " but is he not 
subject to their oversight and authority ? " If I disobey," 
says the great orator, who could see into the mysteries of 
prophecy, but not into the slowly opening mists of the im- 
mediate years, " can you not call me to your bar ? And, if I 
come not, have you not your court of contumacy wherewith 
to reach me? If I offend in any great matter — which I 
would fain hope is little likely — can you not pronounce 
against me the sentence of the lesser or the greater excom- 
munication ? " These words detach themselves from the con- 
text, to us who know what came after. He spoke then all 
unaware what significance time was preparing for the un- 
thought-of expressions ; evidently fearing nothing of such a 
fate. " I was enabled to deliver myself with great calmness 
and respect, in a way which seemed very much to impress 
the house," he tells his wife — " stating how I sought not to 
intrude, but had advertised my constituents to consult au- 
thorities upon the subject." And when the matter was at 
length decided against him, personal disappointment scarcely 
appears at all in the record he gives : — 

"Edinburgh, 26th May. 
" It gave me no pain at all to be cast out of the Assembly, except 
in as far as it wronged the burgh of Annan, and all the burghs in their 
rights, which we proved beyond a question are to send a minister or 

elder The attention and favour which I received was very 

marked, especially from the Commissioner and the Moderator; and 
unbounded was the wonder of men to find that I had not a rough 

tiger's skin, with tusks and horns and other savage instruments 

Upon the whole, I am very well satisfied with this event in my life. 
.... My lectures are decidedly producing an impression upon the 
people. The work of the Lord is prospering in my hand. The glory 
be unto His great name. . . . It is the custom for the Moderator to 
choose two ministers and an elder to walk down from the Assembly- 
house to the Levee-room in Hunter Square, and inform the Com- 
missioner * when the Assembly is waiting for him. He honoured me 

* It may be well to explain, for the information of readers unacquainted 
with Scotland, that the Commissioner is the representative of Her Majesty in 



264 LECTURES IN HOPE PARK CHAPEL. 

on Saturday with this duty, and the Commissioner asked me to dine 
with him, when I enjoyed myself vastly with the Solicitor-General and 
Sir Walter Scott, who were sitting over against me. The Moderator 
has sent me an invitation to attend the Assembly, and sit in the body 

of the house It is hard work standing forth, with an extempore 

sermon of two hours, every morning at seven o'clock." 

" 29th May. 
" I remain here till Friday night, when I go to Dumfries in the 
mail, and from there I come to Glasgow on Wednesday to preach, then 
to Paisley, and finally to Row. Above all things, I rejoice that I shall 
completely open the Apocalypse. I am wonderfully strengthened. 
The people come out willingly, and are very patient. They are gener- 
ally assembled from seven to half-past nine. It tries my strength, but 

I have strength for it There is a great work to be done here, 

and I think God has chosen me for the unworthy instrument of doing 
it. The number of ministers who attend is very remarkable. I could 
say much, but am weary, and am going to the Assembly. I desire my 
love to Mr Scott and Miss Macdonald, my brotherly iove to Mr and 
Mrs Hamilton, my blessing upon the head of my children, and my 
whole heart to you, my faithful wife." 

" 4th June. 
" To-morrow I finish my lectures, which I can with assurance say 
have produced a strong and lasting impression. The one thing which 
I have laboured at is to resist liberalism by opening the Word of God." 

So concluded this second conrse of Edinburgh lectures. 
Hope Park Chapel was crowded ; and quiet country people, 
trudging out to the suburban villages in the evening, or into 
the busy town in the early summer sunshine, remember 
vaguely still, without remembering what it meant, the throng 
about the door of the place ; but it was remote, and out of 
the way, and very different from the West Kirk, in the heart 
of Edinburgh life, which he had occupied the previous year. 
The same amount of excitement does not seem to have sur- 
rounded him on this second occasion, though he himself ap- 
pears to have been even more satisfied than formerly with 
the effect his addresses produced. 

And now another course of ceaseless preaching followed, 
principally in his native district, where thousands of people 
went after him wherever he appeared, and through which he 
passed boldly preaching his assailed doctrine before the mul- 
titudes who wondered after him, and the "brethren" who 
were shortly to sit in judgment upon him. 

the Scottish Assembly ; and that, by way of making up for a total want of 
anything to do in that Convocation itself, this high functionary holds a sort 
of shadow of a Viceregal court outside. 



PREACHES IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. 265 

"We arrived at Dumfries," he writes, "by six in the morning, 
when, having breakfasted with the Fergussons, I took some rest, and 
prepared myself for meeting a company of clergymen at Miss Goldie's, 
and preaching in the evening for Dr Scott, to whom I had written for 
the old church, which he readily granted. This I took as a great gift 
from Providence, for it is like the metropolitan church of our county. I 
opened the Apocalypse as far as in one lecture could be done. Next day 
I preached in the Academy grounds, upon the banks of Nith, to above 
10,000 people, in the morning from the eighth Psalm and the second 
of Hebrews. In the afternoon I preached at Holywood, to about six or 
seven thousand, upon the song of the Church in heaven, Rev. v. The 
surveyor at Annan had the curiosity to measure the ground and esti- 
mate the people. He made it as many as thirteen thousand ; and there 
were more at Dumfries. My voice easily reached over them all.* At 
Holywood I was nearly four hours, and at Dumfries three hours in the 
pulpit ; and yet I am no worse. Next day I went to Dunscore, which 
stretches away up from the right bank of the hill towards Galloway. I 
visited Lag the persecutor's grave, by the way, and found it desolate ; 
though surrounded with walls and doors, it was waste, weedy, and 
foul. There is not a martyr's grave that is not clean and beautiful. 
At Dunscore, Thomas Carlyle came down to meet me. It is his parish 
church, and I rode up with him to Craigenputtock, where I was 
received with much kindness by him and his wife. . . . My dearest 
wife, what I owe you of love and gratitude ! The Lord reward you, 
and enable me to cherish you as my own self. Prom Craigenputtock I 
rode down with Carlyle on Wednesday morning, and met the coach at 
the Auldgarth brig, and came on to Glasgow that night. Alexander 
Hamilton I saw at Langholm. He and his sister are both well. And 
at Mauchline I stopped to ask for Mr Woodrow's parents, who are also 
well. I slept at Mr Falconer's last night, and am now, after many 
calls, seated in James Stevenson's, beside the chapel where I am to 
preach. Collins spoke this morning to me as a heretic, and I rose and 
left him with oifence. I have much, much to bear. Let patience have 
her perfect work. There were assembled at Dunscore, though it be a 
lonely place, full two or three thousand people. These are my com- 
forts, that I have the privilege of addressing so many of my beloved 
brethren. To-night I preach in the chapel of ease, proceed to Paisley, 
and preach to them to-morrow ; thence to Rosneath, where I preach on 
Saturday, at four, and at Row on Sabbath. I travel back to Edin- 
burgh on Monday, and preach at Kirkcaldy on Tuesday night ; after 
which, on Wednesday, I take shipping for home, — sweet home ! — the 
dwelling-place of those whom I am most bound to and beholden to in 
this world. My worthy father and mother came to Dumfries and 
Holywood all well. . . . The blessing of the Lord be with all the flock. 
God help me this night. — Friday — I was much supported in preaching 
at Glasgow, and did the cause some service, as I hope. The Calton 

* It is recorded that when preaching at Monimail, in Fife, in the open 
air, his sermon was heard distinctly by a lady seated at her own window a 
quarter of a mile off; and his voice was audible, though not distinctly, at 
double that distance. 



266 EMPLOYMENT OF HIS SUMMER HOLIDAY. 

weavers came soliciting me to preach on Monday night for the destitute 
among them. This I agreed to, and shall travel in the mail at eleven 
o'clock, and reach Kirkcaldy on Tuesday forenoon." 

It is difficult to realize trie fact that these intense and in- 
cessant labours were all entirely voluntary, the anxiously 
premeditated offering of his summer holiday to his Master 
and the Church. A local paper of the time confirms and 
heightens Irving' s brief account of the crowds which followed 
him in Dumfries. The journalist, with the license of his 
craft, describes {Dumfries Courier, June, 1829) those audi- 
ences as " innumerable multitudes," and adds that not less 
than 12,000 or 13,000 people attended both the Sunday ser- 
vices. In Glasgow, however, for what reason I cannot tell, 
or whether it is simply for want of evidence, he does not 
seem to have gained the ear or the heart of the community. 
Glasgow, absorbed in the prose of life, had perhaps less pa- 
tience than other places for the most impracticable of theo- 
logians ; or, still more likely, never could forget that he had 
once been assistant at St John's, and that nobody had dis- 
covered the manner of man he was. A lady who knew him 
well, and was, at the moment, with him, describes with 
graphic vivacity an incident in this Glasgow visit. He had 
preached to a disturbed and restless audience, crowded but 
not sympathetic ; and when about to leave the church found 
a crowd waiting him outside, full of vulgar incipient insult. 
Some of the bystanders addressed him in vernacular taunts 
— " Ye're an awfu' man, Mr Irving : they say you preach a 
Homan Catholic baptism, and a Mohammadan heeven ; " and 
the whole position looked alarming to his troubled female 
companion. Irving, however, faced the crowd calmly, took 
off his hat, bowed to them, and uttered a " fare ye well " as 
he went forward. The multitude opened, swinging back 
"like a door on its hinges," says the keen observer, who, haL 
running to keep up with his gigantic stride, accompanied 
him through this threatening pathway. It was the only 
place in which popular friendliness failed him. One great 
cause of this, however, is said to have been the warm support 
which he gave to Mr Campbell of Row, whose "new doc- 
trine" had been for some time alarming the orthodox society 
of the West, — so that in Irving's person the theological crowd 
of Glasgow saw a type of all the heresies which put the 
Church and countryside in commotion. But after all this 
lapse of years, after the strange, lofty political principles 
which he had come to hold so firmly and speak out so boldly, 
the Calton weavers, democrats and radicals to a man, still re- 



INCIDENT IN KIRKCALDY. 267 

membered and trusted to the old friend who shared their 
miseries without ever learning to distrust them, ten years be- 
fore, in the dismal days of Bonnymuir. His^W divinum did 
not frighten those critics, it appears ; by a diviner right, long 
ago, he had possessed himself of their hearts. 

After this he seems to have again paid a flying visit to 
Bathgate, the residence of his brother-in-law ; for to this 
year belongs a beautiful anecdote told of him in that place. 
A young man belonging to the Church there was very ill, 
" dying of consumption." Mr Martin had promised to take 
his distinguished relative to see this youth, and Irving's time 
was so limited that the visit had to be paid about six in the 
morning, before he started on his further journey. When 
the two clergymen entered the sick chamber, Irving went up 
to the bedside, and looking in the face of the patient, said 

softly, but earnestly, " Greorge M , God loves you ; be 

assured of this — God loves you." "When the hurried visit 
was over, the young man's sister, coming in, found the pa- 
tient in a tearful ecstasy not to be described. ""What do 
you think ? Mr Irving says Grod loves me," cried the dying 
lad, overwhelmed with the confused pathetic joy of that 
great discovery. The sudden message had brought sunshine 
and light into the chamber of death. 

An incident of a similar kind occurred about the same 
time in the Manse of Kirkcaldy. When the family were 
going to prayers at night, a messenger arrived, begging that 
Irving would go to visit and pray with a dying man. He 
rose immediately to obey the call, and left the room ; but 
coming back again, called one of the family to go with him. 
On their return inquiries were naturally made about the 
sufferer, who had either been, or appeared to have been, un- 
conscious during the devotions offered by his bedside. " I 
hope there was blessing in it to the living, at least," said the 
mother of the house. "And to the dying also," answered 
Irving ; " for it is written, ' If two of you shall agree on 
earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be 
done for them of my Father which is in heaven.' " It was 
for this sublime reason, holding the promise as if it had been 
audibly spoken to himself, that the Christian priest turned 
back to call the other, whose brotherhood of faith he was 
assured of, to hold their faithful Master to His word. 

When these laborious travels were concluded, Irving 
returned to London, so unexhausted, it would appear, that 
he was able immediately after to prepare another bulky 
volume for the press. This was a work on Church and State, 



268 HIS VIEWS OF CHURCH AND STATE. 

founded upon the vision of Daniel, and tracing the line of 
antique history, the course of the Kings and of the Church, 
through Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Alexander, up to fated 
Borne, in all its grand developments. He himself explains 
the book to have been an expression of his own indignant 
sentiments in respect to the late invasions of the British 
Constitution, which, according to his view, destroyed the 
standing of this country as a Christian nation : these being 
specially the abolition of the Test and Corporation Acts, and 
the repeal of Catholic disabilities. It would be vain to 
attempt to vindicate Irving from the charges of illiberality 
and intolerance which his decided and vehement opposition to 
these measures may naturally call upon him. To us, in the 
present day, it is so difficult to realize how such restraints 
ever could have existed, that to understand the character of 
any serious opposition raised to their appeal is almost impos- 
sible. But I am not careful to defend Irving from such 
imputations. So far as his character may have been set 
forth in this history, so far will his sentiments be justified 
as the natural product of a high-toned and lofty mind, always 
occupied with the soul of things. Such a man is not always 
right ; may be, in practical necessities, mightily wrong ; but 
is always in a lofty unity with his own conclusions and con- 
victions. His Divine Eight, at least, is, if nothing else, a 
splendid ideal, always pointing forward to the sublime realiz- 
ation of thaf Personal Beign, the Divinity of which no man 
could question — and giving a soul to the loyalty he required 
by converting it into the patience of the saints, all conscious 
of a Grovernment yet to come, in which Bight and Law 
should be the perfection of Justice and Truth ; and ready, for 
that hope, to endure all things rather than rebel against the 
external Majesty, which was a type of the universal King. 
I repeat, I do not defend Irving for holding such impracti- 
cable, impossible views. The training of the present genera- 
tion has been all accomplished in a world from which those 
ancient restrictions have passed away ; but such as find it 
possible to consider the matter from his stand-point, elevated 
as it was upon the heights of loftiest ideal right, and can 
enter into his theory of Grovernment, whether they accept it 
or not, will need no exculpation of the intrepid champion, 
who, holding this for truth, was not afraid to speak it out. 

The book was dedicated, with an affecting union of family 
affection and the loyalty of a fervent churchman, — 

"To the Eeverend Samuel Martin, D.D., 
My venerable Grandfather-in-law : 



WHISPER OF "HERETIC." 269 

The Reverend John Martin, 

My honoured Father-in-law : 

The Reverend Samuel Martin, 

My faithful Brother-in-law : 

And to all my Fathers and Brethren, 

The ordained Ministers of the Church of Scotland. 

While Irving was in Scotland, Mr James Haldane, of 
pious memory, published a pamphlet entitled, A Refutation 
of the Heretical Doctrine 'promulgated by the Rev. Edward 
Irving, respecting the Person and Atonement of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, which Irving referred to slightly in one of the above 
letters, as having "no strength in it." This, and the other 
still slighter, but more painful mention, that " Collins spoke 
to me as a heretic," were the only marks of the gathering 
storm in Scotland ; unless the stifled demonstrations of the 
Grlasgow mob might be regarded as such. The position which 
Irving assumed in the above dedication and in his speech in 
the Assembly was clearly that of a man certain of his own 
position, and resolute that the name of heretic was one that 
could with no justice be applied to him. This certainty he 
never relinquished. Slowly and unwillingly the fact dawned 
upon him at last, that he was called a heretic, and the stroke 
went to his heart ; but that he never acknowledged himself 
to be so — always, on the contrary, was confident in the per- 
fect orthodoxy of his belief — is apparent through all his 
works. 

He returned to London, to his " beloved flock," with all 
the comfort of a man who knows himself undoubted and un- 
rivalled in his own special field. There no mutterings of 
discontent assailed him. His congregation stood around him, 
shoulder to shoulder, in a unanimity of affection rarely be- 
stowed upon one man. The prophetic brotherhood, to whose 
company he had gradually drawn closer in late years, espe- 
cially under the stimulus of the Albury Conferences, seem, 
like the congregation, to have been charmed by the magical 
influence of a heart so tender and so true ; and to have given 
themselves up to his half-conscious sway with a loyalty and 
simplicity perhaps as remarkable as any circumstance of his 
life. Out of that beloved native country which had been 
but a step-mother to Irving, but which he could never keep 
his heart or his fated footsteps from, it was natural that he 
should go back with a sense of relief to the people who knew 
him, and whom he had led entranced and enthusiastic, un- 
conscious whither, into all those vivid openings of truth 
which startled unaccustomed eyes with a hundred side-gleams 



270 THE JOURNEYMEN BAKERS. 

of possible heresy. He returned to his pastoral labours always 
more zealous and earnest in his work, if that were possible. 
I insert here a curious document, undated, and evidently in- 
tended solely for distribution among the class to whom it is 
addressed, which I imagine must belong to this period of his 
life, and which will show how minute as well as how wide 
was his observation, and how prompt his action in all the 
varied enterprises of his calling. It is addressed To the Scot- 
tish Journeymen Bakers, resident in London and its neighbour- 
hood. Social Science did not exist in those days, but Chris- 
tian charity seems to have forestalled statistics, so far, at 
least, as the vast field of Irving' s labour was concerned. 

" My dear Countrymen, — I have been at pains to make myself 
acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of your calling, and do 
enter very feelingly into the hardships and danger of your condition, 
from being deprived in a great degree of the ordinances of our holr 
religion, which are God's appointed means of grace and salvation. 
While I know that many of you do your best endeavour to profit by 
the means of grace, I know, also, that many more have a desire to do 
so, if only it was in their power ; and I am sure the most of you will 
regret with me that not a few of you are fallen into carelessness, and 
some into entire neglect of their invaluable privileges as baptized mem- 
bers of Christ's Church. Moved by the consideration of your peculiar 
case, and desiring, as a Minister of the Church of Scotland, to spend 
myself for the sake of her children in these parts, I have come to the 
resolution of setting apart two hours of the second Saturday evening in 
the month, from seven till nine o'clock, for the express purpose of 
meeting with as many of you as will be entreated to come together, 
and holding some profitable discourse with you concerning the things 
which belong to our everlasting peace. These meetings we will hold in 
the Session House of the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, of 
which I am the minister ; and, God willing, we will begin them on the 
evening of the 14th March, at seven o'clock. 

" Take this in good part, my dear countrymen, and believe that it 
proceeds from a real interest in your welfare, especially in the welfare 
of your souls. I do not forget that, like myself, you are separated 
from father and mother and tender relations ; that you are living in a 
city full of snares and temptations ; that you are members of Christ's 
Church, for whom He died ; and that I am appointed one of those who 
should watch for your sods. Do, therefore, I entreat you, receive this 
invitation with a welcome, and come with a willing mind to meet one 
who, though unknown to you in the flesh, can with the heart subscribe 
himself 

" Your faithful and true friend, 

"Edward Irving. 

"P.S. Though this be written specially with a view to the young 
Scotchmen of the baker trade, and accommodated to meet their circurn- 



Joseph wolff's two greeks. 271 

stances, other bakers of other nations will be welcome, even as they ; 
for are we not all the disciples of one Lord and Master ? — and other 
young Scotchmen of other trades, who may find this suitable to their 
circumstances, will be likewise welcome." 

Whether anything came of this brotherly invitation I am 
unable to say, but it is an indication of the extent of those 
toils which only the inevitable hour and day, time and space, 
and nothing else, seem to have limited. 

Early in this year (a quaint episode which I had almost 
forgotten), Irving's hands had been suddenly burdened by 
the whimsical liberality of the missionary Wolff, who, with- 
out preface or justification, and after an acquaintance not very 
long, if sufficiently warm during the time it had lasted, sent 
home to his friends two Greek youths, to be educated and 
trained to the future service of their countrymen. They were, 
of course, totally penniless, and this extraordinary consign- 
ment involved the maintenance, probably for years, of the 
two strangers. Irving announced their coming to his friend, 
Mr Story, of Eosneath, in whose parish he wished to place 
his unexpected visitors, with a certain chivalrous magnilo- 
quence of speech, as if to forestall all comments on the 
singular nature of the charge thus put upon him. " Joseph 
Wolff, my much esteemed friend," he writes, " and Lady 
Greorgiana Wolff, also my much esteemed friend, have given 
me another proof of their esteem, by sending me two Greeks. 
. . . These two Greeks has Joseph Wolff sent — wholly en- 
trusted to me — so that I am to them as father, and guardian, 
and provider, and everything, which also I am right happy 

to be By the blessing of Grod, poor though I am, yet 

rich in faith, by His grace I will take upon myself the re- 
sponsibility of their charges till they return to their native 
Cyprus again." The young men went to Eosneath to the 
parish school there, where they remained for years. In an 
after letter, Irving unbended from the high ground he had 
taken at first, and confessed, though only by the way, that 
this charge had been " rashly devolved upon him ;" notwith- 
standing, he accepted it, and arranged carefully, as well for 
the economical limitation of their expenses as for the pastoral 
care and authority which he exhorted his friend to wield 
over them. I do not suppose, as indeed it would be un- 
natural to imagine, that the cost of Mr Wolff's liberality came 
entirely, or even chiefly, out of Irving's slender means. Such 
a thing could only have been possible had the matter been 
secret : but he assumed the responsibility, and undertook all 
those expenses without any apparent hesitation ; never 



272 WEEKLY ISSUE OE LECTURES. 

dreaming, it would appear, of declining the charge so rashly 
devolved npon him, or of turning it off on other hands. 

During this year he began to issue, in weekly numbers, 
his Lectures on the Revelations, afterwards to be collected in 
the more dignified form of four octavo volumes. These little 
rudely-printed brochures were each prefaced by a sonnet, the 
sentiment of which is more perfect than the poetry — that 
being, indeed, as in every case where Irving used this vehicle 
of expression, much less poetical and melodious than his 
prose. Notwithstanding, I do not doubt they gave a more 
grateful utterance to his own heart, at its highest strain of 
emotion ; a use of verse which is not to be despised. The 
Morning Watch also contained various papers from his hand, 
— one series, treating of the Old Testament Prophecies quoted 
in the New, in which he takes occasion again and yet again 
to enter into that doctrine of our Lord's entire union with 
us in the flesh, which, the more he considered and meditated 
on it, opened up to him ever new and tenderer lights ; and 
articles treating exclusively of the same subject, some from 
his own pen, some inspired by him, — authorities, arguments, 
eloquent expositions of this distinctive crown of his belief. 
In defence of this he stood forth before all the world, fer- 
vently convinced of its supreme importance : taking infinite 
comfort in his own splendid but troubled career — in his con- 
tentions with the world, in those still, domestic sorrows, un- 
perceived by the world, which penetrated the depths of his 
heart with ever-returning accesses of exquisite sadness — from 
the thought that this very throbbing flesh, this very troubled 
soul, was the same nature to which the Lord, by conquering 
all things in these selfsame garments, had secured the vic- 
tory. It was no dogma to Irving ; the reality of the consola- 
tion and strength which he himself found in it is apparent 
in every word he writes on the subject ; he fights for it as a 
man fights for something dearer than life. 

Another Albury conference concluded the year. This 
was the third ; and the yearly meeting seems now to have 
become a regular institution, returning with the return of 
winter. The bonds formed in this society were naturally 
drawn closer, and the interest of their researches intensified 
by this repetition, at least to a man who entered so entirely 
into them as Irving did. Nothing of the position he himself 
held in those conferences is to be learned from his own re- 
port ; but the significant pre-eminence in which he appears 
in the pages of the Morning Watch, their organ and repre- 
sentative, implies that it must have been a high place. No 



NOTES OF THE THIRD CONFERENCE AT ALBURY. 273 

doubt the little interval of retirement, the repose of the re- 
ligious house, enclosed by all the pensive sights and sounds 
of the waning year, the congenial society and congenial 
themes, the withdrawal from actual life and trouble in which 
these serious days passed, amid the falling leaves at Albury, 
must have been deeply grateful to his soul. "Whether it was 
a safe or beneficial enjoyment is a diiferent matter. There 
he attracted to himself by that "magnetic influence," which 
Dr Chalmers noted, but did not understand, a circle of men 
who were half to lead and half to follow him hereafter ; at- 
tracted them into a certain loyal, all-believing admiration, 
which he himself repaid by implicit trust and confidence, as 
was his nature, — admiration too great and trust too pro- 
found. Nothing of this, however, appears in the following 
record of the third conference at Albury. 

"Albury Park, 30th Nov., 1829. 

"My deah Wife,— I have enjoyed great tranquillity of mind here, 
and much of God's good presence with me, for which I desire to be very 
thankful. Our meetings prosper very well, My time is so much oc- 
cupied with preparations and examinations of what I hear, that, except 
when I am in bed, my Bible is continually before me, in the margin of 
which I engross whatever illustrates my text. This morning I have 
been alone, being minded to partake the Lord's Supper with the rest of 
the brethren. I find Mr Dow agrees with me in feeling his mind clear 
to this act of communicating with the Church of England, 

" We are not without some diversities of opinion upon most sub- 
jects, especially as to the Millennial blessedness, which was handled 
yesterday. Lord Mandeville and Mr Dodsworth take a view of it, 
different from me, rating the condition of men in flesh higher than I 
do, and excluding death. I desire to think humbly, and reverently to 
inquire upon a subject so high, Mr Dow has great self-possession and 
freedom amongst so many strangers. Mr Borthwick is very penetrating 
and lively, but Scotch all over in his manner of dealing with that 
infidel way of intellectualizing divine truth, which came from Scotland. 
I, myself, have too much of it. Mr Tudor is very learned, modest, and 
devout. Lord Mandeville is truly sublime and soul-subduing in the 
views he presents. I observed a curious thing, that while he was 
reading a paper on Christ's office of judgment in the Millennium every- 
body's pen stood still, as if they felt it a desecration to do anything but 
listen. Mr Drummond says that if I and Dodsworth had been joined 
together we would have made a Pope Gregory the Great — he to furnish 
the popish quality, not me. I do not know what I should furnish ; — ■ 
but the church bell is now ringing. 

" We have just returned from a most delightful service. ... Mr 
Dodsworth preached from Psalm viii. 4, 5, 6. . . . Our subject to- 
morrow is the parables and words of our Lord as casting light upon 
His kingdom, opened by Dodsworth. Next day the Remnant of the 
Gentiles and their translation, opened by your husband ; the next, the 

18 



274 INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Apocalypse, opened by Mr Whyte; and the last, the Signs of the 
Times, opened by our host. This will enable you to sympathize with 
us. . . . Farewell ! The Lord preserve you all unto His kingdom. 

" Your faithful husband, 

"Edward Irving." 

With this Sabbatical scene, in which Irving was a simple 
worshipper, concludes, so far as I have any record, this year 
of strenuous labour and conflict. Another illness of his wife's 
still further saddened its termination. The sunshine of house- 
hold prosperity did not light up for him that path which 
went forward into the darkness. But he went on boldly, 
notwithstanding, bating nothing of heart or hope. 



CHAPTER XV. 

1830. 



Prom year to year, as Irving proceeded further on his 
course, the tide of thought and emotion had been hitherto 
rising with a noble and natural progress. He had now- 
reached almost to the culmination of that wonderful and 
splendid development. Everything he had uttered or set 
forth with the authority of his name had been worthy the 
loftiest mood of human intellect, and had given dignity and 
force to the high position he assumed as a teacher and am- 
bassador of Grocl. All his discoveries and openings up of 
truth had operated only, so far as his own mind was con- 
cerned, to the heightening of every divine conception, and to 
the increase and intensification of the divine love in his heart. 
But another chapter of life had commenced for the great 
preacher. That a man whose thoughts w r ere sublimated so 
tar out of the usual way, and whose mental vision was so 
vivid as to elevate everything he clearly perceived entirely 
out of the region of compromise into that of absolute verity, 
should have gone on so long without coming in contact at 
some point with the restrictions of authority, is more won- 
derful than that the commonly orthodox understanding, long 
jealous of a fervour and force which it could not comprehend, 
should at length set up a barrier of sullen resistance against 
his advances. The conflict had fairly set in when the year 
1830 commenced. No longer the politico-religious journal 



A NEW LIGHT. 275 

ists of London, no longer stray adventurers into the world of 
controversy, but the authorized religious periodicals of his 
own country y and the divines of his mother- Church, were 
now rising against him ; and while the storm gathered, an- 
other cloud arose upon the firmament — another cloud to 
most of the spectators who watched the progress of this won- 
derful tragedy ; but to Irving himself another light, still 
more beautiful and glorious than those which had already 
flushed his horizon with the warmest illuminations of grati- 
tude and love. Since that summer-day of 1828 when he 
preached at Row, and agreed with Mr Alexander Scott to 
come to his assistance in London, and work with him entirely 
unfettered by any pledge as to doctrine, that gentleman had 
been his close companion and fellow-workman ; — and natur- 
ally had not occupied that place without an influence pro- 
portionate to his great powers. Mr Scott, like many others 
both in that day and this, entertained the belief that the 
supernatural powers once bestowed upon the Church were 
not merely the phenomena of one miraculous age, but an in- 
heritance of which she ought to have possession as surely 
and richly now as in the days of the Apostles. A similar 
idea had already, in a kind of grand prophetic reverie, crossed 
the mind of Irving. So far back as 1828, he himself says he 
had become convinced that the spiritual gifts so largely be- 
stowed upon the apostolic age of Christianity were not ex- 
ceptional, or for one period alone, but belonged to the Church 
of all ages, and had only been kept in abeyance by the ab- 
sence of faith. Yet with the lofty reasonableness and moder- 
ation of genius, even when treading in a sphere beyond rea- 
son, Irving concluded that these unclaimed and unexercised 
supernatural endowments, which had died out of use so long, 
would be restored only at the time of the Second Advent, in 
the miraculous reign, of which they would form a fitting 
adjunct. Mr Scott's stronger convictions upon this subject 
quickened the germ of faith which thus lingered in his 
friend's heart. " He was at that time my fellow-labourer in 
the National Scotch Church," writes Irving some time after- 
ward, in his narrative of the Facts connected with recent Mani- 
festations of Spiritual Gifts, published in Eraser's Magazine 
for January, 1832 — 

" And as we went out and in together he used often to signify to 
me his conviction that the spiritual gifts ought still to be exercised in 
the Church ; that we are at liberty, and indeed bound, to pray for them, 
as being baptized into the assurance of the ' gift of the Holy Ghost, 5 as 
well as of ' repentance and remission of sins? , , , . Though I could 



278 INFLUENCE OF SCOTT. 

make no answer to this, and it is altogether unanswerable, I continued 
still very little moved to seek myself or to stir up my people to seek 
these spiritual treasures. let I went forward to contend and to in- 
struct whenever the subject came before me in my public ministrations 
of reading and preaching the Word, that the Holy Ghost ought to be 
manifested among us all, the same as ever He was in any one of the 
primitive Churches," 

The influence of Mr Scott's opinions did not end here. 
His arguments operated still more effectually in another 
quarter, as Irving goes on to describe : — 

"Being called down to Scotland upon some occasion," continues 
Irving, " and residing for a while at his father's house, which is in the 
heart of that district of Scotland upon which the light of Mr Camp- 
bell's ministry had arisen, he was led to open his mind to some of the 
godly people in these parts, and, among others, to a young woman who 
was at that time lying ill of a consumption, from which afterwards, 
when brought to the very door of death, she was raised up instanta- 
neously by the mighty hand of God. Being a woman of a very fixed 
and constant spirit, he was not able, with all his power of statement 
and argument, which is unequalled by that of any man I have ever met 
with, to convince her of the distinction between regeneration and 
baptism with the Holy Ghost ; and when he could not prevail he left 
her with a solemn charge to read over the Acts of the Apostles with 
that distinction in her mind, and to beware how she rashly rejected 
what he believed to be the truth of God. By this young woman it was 
that God, not many months after, did restore the gift of speaking with 
tongues and prophesying to the Church." 

This incident connects the history together in its several 
parts with wonderful consistence and coherence. The preach- 
ing of Mr Campbell of Row, which had stirred the whole 
countryside with its warm and single-minded proclamation 
of an uncomplicated gospel ; the proceedings against him,* 
then going on before the ecclesiastical courts, which quick- 
ened the tradesmen and labourers of Clydesdale into a con- 
vocation of learned doctors deep in metaphysics and theology ; 

* The report of these preshyterial proceedings, being the trial of this 
saintly and admirable man for heresy, by his Presbytery, in the very centre of 
the district which had been instructed and influenced by him, with its full 
testimony of witnesses for and against the orthodoxy of the reverend " de- 
fender," — witnesses of all descriptions, ploughmen, farmers, small shop- 
keepers, Dunbartonshire lairds, — is perhaps one of the most singular records 
ever printed ; each man of all these miscellaneous individuals being evidently, 
not only in his own estimation, but in that of the Presbytery, a competent 
informant on a nice point of doctrine ; and their testimony of the different 
senses in which they had understood their minister's sermons, and their 
opinions thereupon, being gravely received as influencing the important 
question of a clergyman's character and position in the Church. Nowhere 
but in Scotland could such a body of evidence be brought together. 



RELIGIOUS FERMENTATION IN CLYDESDALE. 277 

the repeated apparition of Irving, — then, perhaps, the most 
striking individual figure in his generation, and who spread 
excitement and interest around him wherever he went, — had 
combined to raise to a very high degree of fervour and vivid- 
ness the religious feeling of that district. Several humble 
persons in the locality had become illustrious over its whole 
extent by the singular piety of their lives, piety of an ecstatic, 
absorbing kind, such as in the Catholic Church would have 
brought about canonization ; and which, indeed, does every- 
where confer a spiritual local rank equal to canonization. 
Such was Isabella Campbell of Fernicarry, a youthful saint 
who had died not long before in an odour of sanctity which no 
conventual virgin ever surpassed, and whose life had been 
published with immense local circulation by Mr Story, of 
Rosneath. It is unnecessary to describe more fully the sin- 
gular condition of mind into which the entire district seems 
to have been rapt at this special period, since it has already 
been done with fuller knowledge and more perfect detail in 
the Memoir of the admirable minister of E-osneath,* written 
by his son. But religion had at this crisis taken a hold upon 
the entire mind of the population, which it very seldom pos- 
sesses. It was not only the inspiration of their hearts, but 
the subject of their thoughts, discussions, and conversations. 
They seem not only to have been stimulated in personal 
piety, but occupied to an almost unprecedented degree with 
those spiritual concerns which are so generally kept alto- 
gether apart from the common tide of life. On such a state 
of mind Mr Scott's pregnant suggestion fell with the force 
that might have been expected from it. That which to the 
higher intelligence was a matter of theoretical belief, became 
in other hands an active principle, wildly productive, and big 
with results unpremeditated and unforeseen. 

With this smouldering fire beginning to glow in unsus- 
pected quiet, and with a longing expectation beginning to 
rise in the mind of Irving, the year began. Nothing as yet 
had come of that expectation. But no one can watch the 
progress of events, marking how Irving's heart grew sick 
over the opposition of his brethren, and how the deep con- 
viction that this antagonism was against a fundamental doc- 
trine of Christianity, and involved the Church in a practical 
denial of her Head, overpowered him with indignation and 
melancholy, without perceiving how open his troubled spirit 

* Memoir of the Life of the Rev. Robert Story ; by Robert Herbert 
Story, Minister of Rosneath. — Macmillan and Co. 



278 TRACT ON OUR LORD^S HUMAN NATURE. 

was to anything which appeared like the ineffable joy of 
direct support and vindication from heaven. 

In January his tract, entitled The Orthodox and Catholic 
Doctrine of Our Lord's Human Nature, made its appearance — 
the first distinct and separate publication on the subject 
which he had given to the world since the Incarnation ser- 
mons which first broached the question. It was a contro- 
versial reassertion, strongly defensive and belligerent, of the 
doctrine which he had before stated with calm exposition and 
lofty argument. I have heard many competent authorities 
say, that there are rash and unjustifiable expressions in this 
little book. It may very well be so ; and, considering that 
his faith in this respect was the very heart and soul of his 
Christianity, it is not wonderful if he defended it with even 
an excessive vehemence. But no one can read this or any 
of his publications on the subject, without observing how he 
pauses now and then at every point of his argument, lays 
down his weapons, restrains his excited action, and with a 
simplicity and moderation that becomes pathetic as one ob- 
serves how it is repeated, states over again the plain text of 
the question at issue. That self-control and affecting earnest- 
ness prove much more effectually than any heat of argument, 
how profoundly important he held it, and how deeply bent 
he was on conveying the true statement of his cherished be- 
lief to every ear that could be induced to hear. To a man so 
deeply human, there was no comfort in the passive immacu- 
late image of a Saviour set aside from our temptations by a 
flesh which could not feel them, and only by some divine 
fiction of sympathy entering into the more heavily burdened 
way of His hapless creatures. But his whole nature ex- 
panded with love and consolation when he saw that Saviour 
sensible to those assaults which rend the human soul asunder, 
yet keeping perfect, in his strength and inspiration of (xod- 
head, the flesh, which he held against all the forces of evil : — 

" I believe," cries Irving with the deepest emotion, " that my Lord 
did come down and toil, and sweat, and travail, in exceeding great sorrow, 
in this mass of temptation, with which I and every sinful man am op- 
pressed ; did bring His Divine presence into death-possessed humanity, 
into the one substance of manhood created in Adam, and by the Tall 
brought into a state of resistance and alienation from God, of condemn- 
ation and proclivity to evil, of subjection to the devil ; and bearing it 
all upon His shoulders in that very state into which God put it atter 
Adam had sinned, did suffer its sorrows and pains, and swimming anguish, 
its darkness, wasteness, disconsolateness, and hiddenness from the coun- 
tenance of God ; and by His faith and patience did win for Himself the 
name of the Man of Sorrows and the author and finisher of our faith." 



BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT. 279 

This was the very essence of his belief. And when from 
unexpected quarters, everywhere round him, he discovered that 
other men, that his fathers and brethren in his own Church, 
disowned this central truth which gave life and reality to the 
gospel, it went to his heart like a personal affliction. It was 
not that they differed with him on a controverted subject ; the 
matter was different to his grieved and wondering perception. 
To him it appeared that they denied the Lord. The deepest 
heart of divine grace and pity, the real unspeakable redemption, 
seemed to Irving overlooked and despised when this wonderful 
identity of nature was disputed. He stood wondering and 
sorrowful, always in the midst of his argument turning back 
again to simple statement, as if, like his Lord, he would have 
asked, " Do ye now believe ?" 

And not only increasing controversy, but actual events, be- 
gan to intensify the character of this conflict. The first pa- 
rallels of actual warfare were opened by two younger men than 
himself, both, I presume, his disciples, on this question at least ; 
one being the Rev. H. B. Maclean, of London Wall, and the 
other his chosen friend, Mr Scott. Mr Maclean received a 
presentation to a church in Scotland, and Mr Scott was chosen 
hj the little Scotch congregation at Woolwich as their minister. 
The two events seem to have been almost simultaneous. 

About the same time the Christian Instructor, a periodical 
published under high sanction, and in some degree the organ 
of the evangelical party in the Church, had entered the lists 
against himself. The criticism in which it indulged was, I un- 
derstand, sharp and unfriendly ; and to the author of the papers 
in which he was specially assailed, the Rev. Marcus Dods, Pres- 
byterian minister at Belford, in Northumberland, and after- 
wards known as the author of a work on the Incarnation, partly, 
I believe, originating in this controversy, the following letter, a 
production, perhaps, almost unique in theological controversy, 
was addressed: another proof, if any were wanting, of Irving' s 
inability to conceive of a nature less candid, manful, and bro- 
therly than his own : — 

" London, 13, Judd Place East, March 8, 1830. 

" My demi Beother, — It is reported to me (and, indeed, without 
any signification of doubt, a friend, who wrote me the other day a letter 
from Edinburgh, approving what you have written, speaks of it without 
even an allusion to uncertainty) that you are the author of two critiques 
in the Christian Instructor upon some of my writings. 

" I do not ask you whether you are or not ; indeed, I would rather 
not know by whom they are written, for I am told they are very severe 
in their language and in their spirit, though I can only speak from report 



280 

of others, not being in the habit of reading that work. The object for 
which I write is to ask the favour of your setting down, in a brief form, 
what is the doctrine you hold on this subject, that I may leisurely con- 
sider it in my own mind ; for I am assured you would not write on such 
high subjects without having well considered them. And I will set 
down for your perusal the sum of the doctrine which I hold ; of which, 
let me say, till within these two years, I never knew that there were 
two opinions in any orthodox creed and true Church. I believe, then, — 
" 1st. That all things, with man as their lord, were created holy and 

sinless. 
" 2nd. That since the Eall they have all, with man as their head, become 

altogether sinful, without the power of redeeming themselves. 
" 3rd. That the Eternal Son of God, very God of very God, by incarna- 
tion unto death, and resurrection out of death, redeemed man 
the head, and man's inheritance. 
" 4th. That flesh in human nature was created all good, then it became 
all evil, then in Christ it became all holy, and by the Resurrec- 
tion it became all glory. 
" 5th. That by generation our nature is all sinful, as Adam's was after 
the Eall, that by regeneration it is strengthened of Christ the 
regenerator, the second Adam, to overcome all sin, and that by 
resurrection it is changed into Christ's glory. 
" 6th. That sin in the regenerate ariseth, not from the weakness of the 
Spirit of Christ in them, but from their own moral wickedness, 
which they give place to, and so contract guilt, which needs a 
continual atonement or forgiveness, whereof we are assured 
in the good work of God's having united himself to our nature 
and sanctified it. 
" 7th. With respect to the experience of the Son of God in our nature, 
I am content to say that He was tempted in all points like as 
we are, and yet never sinned : when I want to have this truth 
expanded I study the Psalms and the Prophets, which testify 
of Him. 
" Now, dear sir, and fellow-labourer in the ministry of truth, I shall 
take it very kind if you will set down in a form somewhat similar to this 
the views which you hold upon these subjects, that I may consider them 
at my leisure. 

" For God knows, who knoweth all things, that I have no desire upon 
this earth but to know His truth and to declare it. I would rather that 
you exhibited views in a summary form, than that you entered into criti- 
cism upon mine, although I should take it very kind, if you should no- 
tice anything wrong, that you should mention it. If you lived nearer 
me, I should think nothing of coming to converse with you at large upon 
these great points of our common faith. It is not the first nor the second 
time that I have travelled 100 miles to converse with men who were 
making the deep things of God their meditation. 

" Though, certainly, the having heard that these articles, so severe 
on my writings, as I am informed, were written by you, was the occa- 
sion of this letter, I beg there may be no reference whatever to that 
subject, for what I do not know I do not need to think about, and, if 1 



LETTER TO DR CHALMERS. 281 

did know that you had said, or written, or done the severest things to 
me, what is that but a call for me to forbear, and endeavour either to 
know your truth or to make you know mine ? If you say, Why not 
read the articles ? my reason is, that for many years I have walked by 
the rule of not reading anything personally addressed to me, unless the 
name of the person who writes it be subscribed. And this I do as the 
only way of honouring our Lord's rule, given in the 18th chapter of 
Matthew, for the redress of all personal offences, requiring that the 
persons should know one another. 

" Let, therefore, everything connected with that subject be as far 
from your mind, when you answer, as it is from mine while I write this 
letter. Let us just regard each other as, in truth, we are, two brethren — 
two fellow-labourers in the vineyard of our Lord. I write this without 
the knowledge of any one, my wife lying asleep upon the sofa beside 
me, and my porritch cooling before me. 

" If ever you come to London we shall talk this matter over at 
large : you shall be welcome to my house, as every brother is. Pare- 
well ! May God bless you and bless your labours, and lead us into all 
truth ! This is the prayer of your faithful brother and fellow-labourer, 

"Edwaejd Irving, 
cf Minister of the National Scotch Church." 

I am not informed what answer Mr Dods made to this re- 
markable letter, but its noble charity and candour certainly did 
not in any way change the character of the violent opposition 
offered to Irving and his doctrines. 

To the correspondence of this period, while still the only 
public assaults upon himself were by means of the press, and 
while no authoritative censure had been yet proclaimed upon 
either of his followers, belongs also the following letter to Dr 
Chalmers — a letter of confidence and friendship so undoubting, 
that it is wonderful to believe that it met with little response. 
It is prefaced by a petition from the Session of Eegent Square, 
that the distinguished Scotch preacher, who was to visit Lon- 
don during the summer, would preach in their Church. After 
preferring which request, Irving proceeds to unbosom himself 
with all the freedom of friendship : 

" I need not say how unabated is my esteem of you, and how sincere 
my gratitude to you; and I believe that the wicked and shameless 
attacks upon me have no great effect upon your mind. You are a pro- 
fessor of theology ; lama theological minister, orthodox to the faith, 
and who can discern the unsoundness of a multitude as well as an indi- 
vidual. If those papers in the Instructor, of which I have heard scraps, 
and seen extracts, and know the substance, be the opinions of the minis- 
ters of the Scottish Church, then it is time that you, the professor of 
theology, and all orthodox men, should join together to resist the tide 
of error. I feel a dependence upon the largeness of your comprehen- 
sion and the charity of your heart, and your cautiousness to take offence, 



282 irving's confidence in his judgment. 

which is refreshing to my spirit forecasting the future. And really I 
am ashamed, in the sight of English scholars, to see a man, pretending 
to judge these great questions, talking about Monothelos himself, and 
6 tyiXbg dv6po)7rog, signifying an ordinary man. . . . These things ashame 
me in the presence of English scholars. I know not what apology to 
make for the Christian Instructor, confounded as it generally is with my 
worthy and kind friend, Dr T . If he is ever to become your col- 
league, get him at least better instructed in the nomenclature of the 
heresies ; so that he shall not mistake the name of an opinion (one- 
wilier), for the name of a man [Monothelos]. 

" I remember, when I dined with you, you opened to me your views 
concerning a first theological class, which should open the subject as a 
branch of liberal education. It is curious that, in looking over the 
printed acts of the Assembly from 1690 to 1720, I should find a recom- 
mendation or act to the same effect, I cannot lay my hand upon it 
now, being in the country ; but, before you come to town, I will. 
When you come to town, I will be glad to be of all service to you 
that I can. My family are at present at Bayswater, hard by Ken- 
sington, where Wilkie lives, for the health of my wife and young- 
est child. I hope the Lord is restoring them. I have many things 
to bear ; but the Lord and His truth sustain me. I gather strength 
and confidence daily. The Lord prospers my ministry. The addition 
to my church within the last year has, in communicants alone, been 
near to one hundred and eighty persons, and great, g*reat fruit have 
I of my labours among the clergy of the Church of England. There 
is not a corner of this part of the island where the subject of 
Prophecy and the Second Advent have not in the Church firm and able 
supporters. And for the heresy of our Lord's humanity, when a friend 
of mine, passing from one diocese to another, had to give an account of 
his faith on that head, they would not believe that any one could doubt 
that our Lord took humanity under the conditions of the Fall. These 
were the Bishops of Gloucester and London ; and yet the present most 
zealous prosecutor of Mr Maclean preached to the people of Irvine a 
whole sermon to prove that He took man's nature before the Fall ; and 

others of his co-presbyters did the same Oh, if there be any truth 

in the land, if the Church of Scotland be not given up of God, these 
men will be yet made to pay for it. ' Let nothing be done through 
vainglory.' You see how, being now a professor of theology, and I 
aspiring to become a doctor thereof, I write accordingly. Farewell, 

honoured and beloved sir ! I pray God to strengthen you for all 

His will, and to endow you for your most momentous station 

" Your faithful and dutiful friend, 

"Edward Irving." 

Nothing can be more remarkable than the contrast between 
Irving's repeated appeals to his friend's standing as professor 
of theology, and the conduct of Dr Chalmers during the event- 
ful and momentous period which had just commenced. During 
the following year several men, of the highest character and 
standing, were ejected from the Church of Scotland on theo- 



283 

logical grounds — grounds which Dr Chalmers, occupying the 
position of Doctor, par excellence, in the Scottish Church of 
the time, should have been the foremost to examine, and the 
most influential in pronouncing upon. Dr Chalmers quietly 
withdrew from the requirements of his position in this respect. 
That he pursued his special work nobly, in the face of all the 
agitation of the period, is a small excuse for a man who was so 
little of a recluse and so much of a statesman : it is, perhaps, 
the chapter in his life least honourable to the most eminent 
Scotch Churchman of his day. He was not bold enough, at 
that crisis, to put that " largeness of comprehension and charity 
of heart," in which Irving trusted, into competition with the 
vulgar fervour which swept the popular Assembly into anathema 
and deposition. " Amid this conflict of opinion, of which he 
was far from being an unmoved spectator, Dr Chalmers preserved 
unbroken silence," says his biographer. It seems exactly the 
course of procedure which Dr Chalmers ought not to have 
adopted ; and this becomes all the more apparent in the light 
of Irving's frank appeals to the professor of theology — he whose 
business it was to discriminate most closely, and set forth most 
authoritatively, the difference between truth and error. The 
conflict which had begun in the Irvine presbytery against Mr 
Maclean, and that which was in full course in the Dunbarton 
presbytery against Mr Campbell, were, however, matters with 
which authority or learning had nothing to do ; no council of 
doctors or fathers, no gravely-elect judicial body, examined into 
those delicate and difficult questions. The countryside sat 
upon them in its array of witnesses ; the presbytery, an indis- 
criminate and miscellaneous crowd of ministers, by no means 
distinguished (as, indeed, no mass of men. can be distinguished) 
for clearness of perception, theological learning, or judicial 
wisdom, decided the matter, or else referred it to the decision 
of a synod and assembly equally miscellaneous and indiscrim- 
inate. Meanwhile, the chief representative of what is called in 
Scotland the theological faculty, sat apart and preserved un- 
broken silence, leaving the ship at a crisis of its fate, the army 
at the most critical point of the battle, to the guidance of acci- 
dent or the crowd. It is impossible not to feel that this 
abandonment of his position, at so important a moment, was 
such an act of cowardice as must leave a lasting stain upon the 
reputation of one of the greatest of modern Scotsmen. 

In March, the first steps of ecclesiastical prosecution were 
taken against Mr Maclean. This gentleman, the same to whom 
Irving's noble Charge was addressed at his ordination, had been 
presented to the church and parish of Dreghorn, in Ayrshire, 



284 PROSECUTION OF MR MACLEAN. 

in the beginning of the year, where his coming was hailed by 
the presentation of a petition from some of the heritors and 
members of the church to the presbytery, calling their atten- 
tion to his heretical opinions. The appeal of these theological 
critics was met by the ecclesiastical court to which it was pre- 
sented in the promptest manner. Their action was rapid but 
singular. They drew out a series of questions, which the 
young clergyman was called upon to answer ; entering fully, 
and in an artful, suggestive way, likely to lead him to the 
fullest committal of himself, into the doctrine in dispute — or 
rather into their own statement of the doctrine in dispute — in 
which it was called "the peccability of our Lord'shuman nature ; " 
and specially insisting upon explanations as to what our Lord 
might have done had he not been possessed and anointed by 
the Holy Ghost — a possibility wholly disowned and rejected 
by the assailed individual, who was thus placed at the bar under 
compulsion of criminating himself. Mr Maclean was inex- 
perienced, and perhaps not over-wise, perhaps rash and self- 
devoted, as is seemly for a young man. He accepted the 
questions, and answered them in detail, with natural effusiveness 
and a want of prudence which is very obvious, though it is 
difficult to condemn it. A harassing process immediately com- 
menced. ISTo information upon the state of the parish which 
possessed a population so ripe for controversy, and thoroughly 
prepared to take the field at a moment's notice, is afforded us ; 
but the theological parishioners held to their protest, and from 
presbytery to synod, and from synod to assembly, the case was 
dragged and combated. The interest of Irving in this matter 
was naturally of the deepest kind ; yet, perhaps, scarcely so 
exciting as the more immediate contest, in which he himself 
was called upon to take part, in the ecclesiastical court of 
which he was a member. There Mr Scott, being called to go 
through the trials necessary for his ordination to the Scotch 
Church at Woolwich, stumbled upon the same point, and kept 
the presbytery to repeated meetings, which, by a chance perhaps 
unparalleled before in the annals of the Presbytery of London, 
were, in right of their connection with the distinguished name 
of Irving, reported anxiously in the newspapers, the Times 
itself pausing to remark and comment upon the proceedings of 
the Scotch ecclesiastical tribunal. These proceedings, indeed, 
seem, according to the newspapers, to have made a wonderful 
ferment in the perplexed world, which still watched the progress 
of a man in whom it could not choose but be interested for good 
or for evil. Mr Scott, being in delicate health, had requested 
that his trial discourses might be delivered to the presbytery 



DELIVERANCE OF THE PRESBYTERY. 285 

alone, without admitting the public, and his desire had been 
agreed to. This fact, which looks innocent enough, is taken up 
and commented upon by the various papers of the day with an 
interest and vehemence amazing to behold. It is denounced 
as a violation of the Toleration Act by various voices of the 
public press, little apt to interest themselves in the proceedings 
of Scotch presbyteries ; and the Record, with pious spitefulness, 
does not hesitate to add, that " the privacy was adopted at the 
suggestion of Messrs Irving and Scott, as the means of con- 
cealing from the public the actual views and feelings of the 
presbytery : illustrating the truth of Scripture, ' He that doeth 
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, that his 
deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in Grod.' " 
The same paper declares that, " If the presbytery refuse Mr 
Scott ordination, they must necessarily call upon Mr Irving 
to recant, or resign his charge. It is gratifying to find so 
much firmness, intelligence, and faithfulness in the presbytery 
of London." This commendation, however, seems, from the 
point of view adopted by the Becord, to have been somewhat 
premature, as the immediate conclusion of the presbytery was 
one which, without deciding the question so far as Mr Scott 
was concerned, gave equal satisfaction and consolation to 
Irving. He gives the following account of it in the preface to 
a little work, entitled, Christ's Holiness in Flesh, which was 
published in the following year : — 

" About this time it pleased God to try the faithfulness of the min- 
isters of the Scotch Church in London by this great * question. A 
preacher, being called to one of the churches in connection with the 
presbytery, applied to them for ordination, and his trials proceeded 
with approbation till they came to this question of our Lord's human 
nature, and there they stuck fast. It was thought good to have a pri- 
vate conference of all the brethren, both ministers and elders, upon this 
question, at which we came unanimously to the conclusion of doctrine, 
which is embodied in the third part of this tract, in the drawing up of 
which I had no more hand than the others, and none at all in the sub- 
mitting of" it. It was the pure and unsolicited deliverance of the un- 
animous presbytery. By that deliverance I am willing that every sen- 
tence which I have written should be tried." 

While these struggles were progressing at different points 
of the compass — Maclean, at Dreghorn, entangled in a mean 
and harassing series of examinations, in which his orthodoxy 
was tossed from hand to hand of two parties of peasant wit- 
nesses, whose recollection or non-recollection of his sermons 
was the sole ground on which to prove him guilty or not guilty ; 
while Scott, more fortunate in his judges, had fallen sick, and 



286 MARY CAMPBELL. 

brought the complicated argument, as regarded himself, to a 
temporary suspension — the other influence to which I have re- 
ferred was rising upon the stormy firmament. In the little 
farm-house of Fernicarry, at the head of the Grairloch, the saintly 
Isabella Campbell, whose name has been already mentioned, 
had lived and died a life of such unusual and expressive sanctity 
as to draw pilgrims to her couch and to her home from many 
quarters, and to confer upon her haunts a singular and touching 
local celebrity. The spot where this peasant girl— elevated by 
simple devotion and holiness into one of those tender virgin- 
saints whom Nature, even under the severest Protestant re- 
strictions, can scarcely choose but worship — was accustomed 
to pray, is still one of the shrines of the district. It was at one 
time a retirement of delicate simplicity — a lonely nook on the 
hill-side, close by the devious and picturesque channel of a tiny 
mountain stream. The burn still leaps in tiny waterfalls down 
its ledges of rock, undisturbed by that gentle memory ; but 
some enthusiast pilgrim has built a wall, a memorial of rude 
homage and affecting bad taste, round the mountain-ash and 
little knoll which the girl -saint had made into a sanctuary. 
"When Isabella died, a portion of her fame — her pilgrim 
visitors — her position as one of the most remarkable persons in 
the countryside, a pious and tender oracle — descended to her 
sister Mary. This was the young woman " of a very fixed and 
constant spirit," as Irving describes, whom Mr Scott, a few 
months before, had vainly attempted to convince that the 
baptism with the Holy Ghost was distinct from the work of 
regeneration, but was as much to be looked and prayed for as 
the ordinary influences of the Spirit. Mary Campbell seems 
to have beenpossessed of gifts of mind and temperament scarcely 
inferior to genius, and, with all the personal fascination of 
beauty added to the singular position in which her sister's fame 
had left her — visited on terms of admiring friendship by people 
much superior to her in external rank, and doubtless influenced 
by the subtle arguments of one of the ablest men of the day, — 
it is impossible to imagine a situation more dangerous to a 
young, fervid, and impressionable imagination. For the cir- 
cumstances under which that spark took light, I can only refer 
my readers again to the Memoir of Mr Story; of Eosneath, 
where they are fully and with great graphic power set forth. The 
actual event is described by Irving as follows : — 

11 The handmaiden of the Lord, of whom He made choice on that 
night (a Sunday evening m the end of March), to manifest forth in her 
His glory, had'been long afflicted with a disease which the medical men 



THE GIFT OF TONGUES. 287 

pronounced to be a decline, and that it would soon bring her to her 
grave, whither her sister had been hurried by the same malady some 
months before. Yet while all around her were anticipating her disso- 
lution, she was in the strength of faith meditating missionary labours 
among the heathen ; and this night she was to receive the preparation 
of the Spirit ; the preparation of the body she received not till some 
days after. It was on the Lord's day ; and one of her sisters, along 
with a female friend, who had come to the house for that end, had been 
spending the whole day in humiliation, and fasting, and prayer before 
God, with a special respect to the restoration of the gifts. They had 
come up in the evening to the sick-chamber of their sister, who was 
laid on a sofa, and along with one or two others of the household, they 
were engaged in prayer together. When in the midst of their devotion, 
the Holy Ghost came with mighty power upon the sick woman as she 
lay in her weakness, and constrained her to speak at great length, and 
with superhuman strength, in an unknown tongue, to the astonishment 
of all who heard, and to her own great edification and enjoyment in 
God, — l for he that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself.' She has told 
me that this first seizure of the Spirit was the strongest she ever had ; 
and that it was in some degree necessary it should have been so, other- 
wise she would not have dared to give way to it." 

It was thus that the agitating and extraordinary chapter in 
the history of the modern Church, which we have hereafter to 
deal with, began. It is not in my province, happily, to attempt 
any decision as to what was the real character of these marvellous 
phenomena. But the human circumstances surrounding their 
earliest appearance are remarkable enough to claim the fullest 
exposition. The first speaker with tongues was precisely the 
individual whom, under the supposition that they were no 
more supernatural than other elevated utterances of passion or 
fervour, one would naturally fix upon as the probable initiator 
of such a system. An amount of genius and singular adapt- 
ability which seems to have fitted her for taking a place in so- 
ciety far above that to wmich she had been accustomed ; a 
faculty of representing her own proceedings so as, whether 
wrong or right, to exculpate herself, and interest even those 
who were opposed to her ; a conviction, founded perhaps upon 
her sister's well-known character, and the prominent position 
she herself was consequently placed in, that something notable 
was expected from her ; and the joint stimulus of admiration 
and scoffing — all mingled with a sincere desire to serve Grod 
and advance His glory, were powerful agencies in one young, 
enthusiastic, and inexperienced spirit. And when to all these 
kindling elements came that fire of suggestion, at first rejected, 
afterwards warmly received, and blazing forth at last in so 
wonderfully literal an answer, it is impossible not to feel how 



288 THE MACDONALDS. 

many earthly predisposing causes there were which correspond- 
ed with, even if they did not actually produce, the result. In 
saying so much, I leave the truth or falsehood of the " Tongues " 
entirely out of the question. I do not judge Mary Campbell, 
much less the numerous others who, without the excitement of 
Mary Campbell's special surroundings, afterwards exhibited 
the same power. But I should not be fulfilling the task I 
have undertaken, if I did not point out the dubious cradle 
from which so wonderful a development proceeded ; and the 
singular position of influence and universal observation occu- 
pied by this young woman — her consciousness that she stood 
full in the eye of the little world that surrounded her — her 
personal fascination and mental powers. Such an opportunity 
of acting upon what, in a limited horizon, seems the universal 
mind, scarcely occurs to a member of the humbler classes once* 
in a generation ; to a woman, perhaps not once in a thousand 
years. Altogether this youthful female figure, appearing out of 
the troubled expectant country as with a message from heaven ; 
this inspired creature, fair and delicate and young, with all the 
hopes and purposes of youth removed into superlative spiritual 
regions, — nothing more earthly than a mission to the heathen 
occupying her solitary musings, — is one which nobody can 
turn from without wonder and interest, and which naturally 
awoke the highest excitement in the already agitated district 
to which she belonged. 

JSTor was this all. On the opposite shores of Clyde, in the 
little town of Port Glasgow, dwelt a family distinguished, like 
these two young Campbells, for a profound and saintly piety, 
which had marked them out from their neighbours, and at- 
tracted to them many friends, out of their own condition. The 
leading members of this household were two brothers, accord- 
ing to all report, men of the soberest steadfast life, quietly 
labouring at their business, and in no way likely to be the 
subjects of ecstatic emotion. But with results more startling 
and wonderful still, the newly-awakened power glided over the 
loch and river, to the devout and prayerful house of the Mac- 
donalds. Touching first upon an invalid sister, it then burst 
upon the elder brother with an impulse more extraordinary 
than any mere utterance. James Macdonald had returned 
from the building-yard, where he pursued his daily business, 
to his midday dinner, after the calm usage of a labouring man. 
He found the invalid of the household in the agonies of this 
new inspiration. The awed and wondering family concluded 
with reverential gravity that she was dying, and thus account- 



THE GIFT OF HEALING. 289 

ed to themselves for the singular exhibition they saw. " At 
dinner-time James and George came home as usual," says the 
simple family narrative, " whom she then addressed at great 
length, concluding with a solemn prayer for James, that he 
might at that time be endowed with the power of the Holy 
Ghost. Almost instantly, James calmly said, ' I have got it.' 
He walked to the window, and stood silent for a minute or 
two. I looked at him, and almost trembled, there was such a 
change upon his whole countenance. He then, with a step 
and manner of the most indescribable majesty, walked up 

to 's bedside, and addressed her in these words of the 

20th Psalm, ' Arise, and stand upright.' He repeated the 
words, took her by the hand, and she arose." After this won- 
derful event, with inconceivable human composure, the homely 
record continues, " we all quietly sat down, and took our 
dinner;" an anticlimax to the extraordinary agitation and 
excitement of the scene just described, which no fiction 
dared attempt, and which nothing but reality, always so 
daring in its individual opposition to recognized laws of na- 
ture, could venture to have added to the description. The 
young woman was not merely raised from her sick-bed for the 
moment, but cured ; and the next step taken by the brother 
so suddenly and miraculously endowed, was to write to Mary 
Campbell, then apparently approaching death, conveying to 
her the same command which had been so effectual in the case 
of his sister. The sick ecstatic received this letter in the 
depths of languor and declining weakness, and without even 
the hand of the newly-inspired to help her, rose up and declar- 
ed herself healed. 1 do not pretend to account for these ex- 
traordinary circumstances. Whatever natural explanations 
they may be capable of, I do not believe it possible to account 
for them by supposing anything like trickery or simulation 
beneath. They take their place amoug the many other unre- 
solvable wonders which have from time to time perplexed the 
world ; but whatever the cause, the result was real. Mary 
Campbell, who before this time had been confined to bed, from 
this moment, without any interval, returned to active life; 
became, as was natural, the centre of double curiosity and in- 
terest, spoke, expounded, gave forth the utterances of her 
power in crowded assemblies, and entered into the full career 
of a prophetess and gifted person. The Macdonalds, less 
demonstrative, and more homely, went on upon their modest 
way, attracting crowds of observers, without being thereby 
withdrawn from the composed and sober course of their exist- 

19 



290 THE MANIFESTATIONS BELIEVED BY MANY. 

ence ; and thus a new miraculous dispensation was, to the 
belief of many, inaugurated, in all the power of Apostolic times, 
by these waters of the West. 

"When these extraordinary events became known, they 
reached the ear of Irving by many means. One of his deacons 
belonged to a family in the district, who sent full and frequent 
accounts. Others of his closest friends — Mr Story, in whose 
immediate parish the wonder had first arisen, and Mr Camp- 
bell, whose teaching had helped to inspire it — looked on with 
wistful scrutiny, eagerly hopeful, yet not fully convinced of the 
reality of what they saw. Mr Erskine of Linlathen went upon 
a mission of personal inquiry, which persuaded his tender 
Christian soul of the unspeakable comforts of a new revelation. 
Almost every notable Christian man of the time took the 
matter into devout and anxious consideration. Even Chalmers, 
always cautious, inquired eagerly, and would not condemn. 
On Irving the effect was warmer and more instantaneous. 
Assured of the personal piety which nobody could gainsay, and 
doubtless moved with a subtle, unconscious, propitiating in- 
fluence, conveyed by the fact that his own distinctive teachings 
were echoed in what seemed divine aniens and confirmations 
through those burdens of prophecy, he does not seem to have 
hesitated for an instant. A subtle agitation of hope, wonder, 
and curiosity pervaded the Church, which, under Irving's half- 
miraculous realizations of every truth he touched, must have 
been fully prepared for the entirely miraculous, whenever it 
should appear with reasonable warrant and witness. The 
future palpitated before the earnest leader and his anxious 
followers. If their controversies did not slacken, broken lights 
of a consolation, which, if realized, would be unspeakable and 
beyond the hopes of man, came to brighten that troubled, 
laborious way. It was a moment of indescribable hope and 
solemn excitement, when to the strained eyes and ears and 
throbbing hearts, which stood watching on the threshold of 
revelation, nobody could predict or conceive what wonderful 
burst of glory any moment might bring. 

The following letters appear, however, to have been writ- 
ten in the suspense of this crisis, before any absolute mani- 
festation of the new gifts had been made in England. In 
this interval Dr Chalmers once more visited London ; and 
seems, according to the details in Irving's letters, to have 
preached not only on a Sunday, but also at some week-day 
services in the National Scotch Church. At this moment 
Irving's much-tried household was again in deep anxiety and 
distress. The little Samuel had been for some time ill ; so 



IRVING, CHALMERS, AND COLERIDGE. 291 

ill that the troubled house was unable to offer the ordinary 
hospitalities to the visitor, but had to fulfil those duties, 
so imperative to the habits of Scotsmen, vicariously through 
Mr Hamilton ; and the anxious father was even afraid to be 
out late in the evening, — his dying baby holding stronger to 
his heart than even his much-prized friend, to whom once 
more he thus expresses his affection : — 

" Believe me when I say that, in regard to the preaching also, it is 
the entire love and high admiration which I have of you that makes me 
feel it so desirable. I am sore beleaguered, and have almost been 
beaten to the ground ; but my God hath sustained me, through your 
means. The time will come, and perhaps is not far distant, when I 
shall begin to be understood and valued according to the sincerity of 
my heart : but if not, let me die the death of the righteous One, who 
was crucified as a blasphemer ; and let my latter end be like His." 

This was the last encounter, so far as mutual help and 
sympathy were concerned, of these two singularly unlike 
men. They went together once more, before they parted, to 
visit Coleridge, as they had gone together to visit him when 
life and hope were at their brightest for Irving, and every- 
thing seemed possible. Strangely different must this second 
visit have been. Seven years before, Chalmers, half-wonder- 
ing, half-amused, had watched the young preacher in the 
early flush of his fame, sitting at the feet of the sage ; both 
of them equally curious, and half- decipherable to the eyes 
bright with characteristic genius, which yet did not know 
that development of uncongenial and mysterious light. Now 
the two elder men watched the younger with regret, amaze- 
ment, and impatience equal to their mutual incomprehension. 
He had left the calm regions of philosophy far apart and be- 
hind. He had left the safe limits of ecclesiastical restraint. 
The divine and the philosopher gazed at him with a certain 
mournful admiration and affectionate anger. Coleridge 
"poured out an eloquent tribute of his regard," into the ears 
of Chalmers, "mourning pathetically that such a man should 
be throwing himself away." They did not comprehend, neither 
the one nor the other, that nothing in this palpitating human 
world could be abstracted to that passionate, splendid human 
soul ; that it was as truly his mission to render up love and 
life, to break his heart, and end his days in conflict with the 
shows of things, and vehement protestation for the reality, 
as it was theirs to dream, to ponder, to legislate, to abide 
the bloodless encounters of argument and thought. They 
watched him going on to his passion and agony, with won- 
dering hopes that advice and remonstrance might yet save 



292 PEARS FOR THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 

him ; unperceiving that the agony and passion "by which this 
man was to prove the devotion of a loyal heart to his Master's 
name and person, and unspeakable certainty of spiritual 
verities, was indeed the true object and purpose of his life. 

While Chalmers was still in London, but apparently on 
the eve of quitting it, and after they had taken leave of each 
other, the following letter seems to have been written : — 

" 13 Judd Place, East, 

"June 2nd, 1830. 

" My dear and kind Eriend, — I have at last found the document 
I referred to. You will find it in the printed Acts of the year 1704, 
Act xxviii., and from the 6th of certain ' Overtures concerning Schools 
and Bursaries, and for instructing youth in the principles of religion ; ' 
and is as follows * : — 

" There are very many Acts of the Church scattered through these 
years following the Restoration concerning the advancement of learning, 
which would, I think, strengthen your hands very much in any under- 
taking to that effect. 

" I had thought to see you to thank you in person for your great 
kindness to me and my church on this occasion ; but the state of my 
poor boy's health prevents me leaving home for a night. Accept of 
them now r and be assured of my willingness to repay unto Christ and 
His Church the kindness which by you He hath shown unto me ; and 
whenever any opportunity occurs of serving you personally, be assured 
of my readiness. 

" I perceive two things in Scotland of the most fearful omen : Eirst, 
self- sufficient ignorance of theological truth, and a readiness to pride 
themselves in and boast of it, and to call everything speculation which 
proposes to advance the bounds, or rather narrow limits, of theological 
knowledge. My doctrine on our Lord's human nature is as literally 
the doctrine of the Confessions of the Church as can be — viz., That He 
took the human nature of the Virgin, that it was thoroughly and com- 
pletely sanctified in the generation by the work of the Holy Ghost, and 
underwent no process or progress of sanctification. Yet, through 
ignorance of the person and office of the Holy Ghost, I perceive the 
greatest horror to prevail against this truth, and a readiness to adopt 
one or other of the errors — either that His nature was intrinsically 
better than ours, or that it underwent a physical change before its 
assumption into the person of the Son. If you would see, within a 
short compass, the three opinions brought to the test of the Confessions 
of Eaith, I recommend to you a short anonymous tract, entitled The 
Opinions circulating concerning the Human Nature of our Lord brought to 
Trial before the Westminster Confession of Faith. You ought to give 
some study to this point, and stand in the breach for the truth. I 
have thoroughly gone through the subject of the Incarnation; and if it 

* It is unnecessary to quote the extract made by Irving, which bears 
reference to Chalmers's idea of making theology one of the branches of 
liberal education. 



irvtng's renewed appeal to his "master." 293 

served you, could at any time give you the history from the beginning 
of the controversies on this subject, and of its present form. The 
second thing which grieves and oppresses my heart with respect to 
poor Scotland, is the hardness of heart manifested in the levity and 
cruelty with which they speak of others ; the zeal and readiness with 
which they rush to overthrow such men of God as John Campbell ; the 
union of all parties to this end ; the scorn with which they regard the 
signs of the Holy Ghost beginning to be again vouchsafed to the 
Church ; and, if not scorn, the mere juryman way of considering them, 
as the House of Commons might, without any respect to any existing 
promise, or probability, or doctrine of any kind upon the subject, — 
also without any regard to the discernment of the Holy Ghost in us, 
and even as if the Holy Ghost were merely a sharpener of our natural 
faculties to detect imposture or to know sincere persons. The sub- 
stance of Mary Campbell's and Margaret Macdonald's visions or 
revelations, given in their papers, carry to me a spiritual conviction 
and a spiritual reproof which I cannot express. Mr Cunningham, of 
Lainshaw, said to me the other day, that he had seen nothing since the 
Apostles' days worthy to be compared with a letter of Mary Dunlop's 
which is written to a person in this city. Thomas Erskine and other 
persons express themselves more overpowered by the love, and assur- 
ance, and unity seen in their prayers and conversations than by the 
works. Oh, my friend ! oh, my dear master ! there are works of the 
Spirit and communications of the Spirit which few of us ever dream of ! 
Let us not resist them when we see them in another. Mind my words 
when I say, e The Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland will lay 
all flat if they be not prevented. 5 I desire my true love to Mrs 
Chalmers and Miss Anne. May God give you a prosperous journey ! 
" Your faithful friend and brother, 

"Edwd Irving." 

To all these appeals the man whom Irving addressed, with 
tonching loyalty to the past and its associations, as " my dear 
master," seems to have made no response whatever. If he 
examined that momentous question at all, or re-examined it 
at the entreaty of his friend, whose very life was involved in 
its consideration, no record remains to prove it. He left the 
controversy to be settled by the nameless Presbyters of Irvine 
and Annan, voluntarily making his own learning and influ- 
ence useless in a controversy most deeply momentous to the 
Church, and which only the doctors and fathers of the Church 
ought to have given any deliverance upon. At the crisis 
then existing, I repeat, Chalmers and his equals permitted 
this matter, and also the equally important process of Mr 
Campbell of Eow, to be discussed and virtually settled by an 
untrained country population ; a manner of procedure, I 
presume, justified by the laws of Presbytery, but in the pro- 
foundest discordance, not only with reason and justice, but 



294 FAREWELL OF IRVING AND CHALMERS. 

with the true spirit of a system which professes to hold its 
authority, not from the people, but from Grod. 

As, I believe, they never met again after this year, I add, 
though a little out of chronology, the farewell mention which 
Chalmers makes in his diary of their final parting. 

" Oct. 1830. — Had a very interesting call from Mr Irving between 
one and two, when I was in bed. He stopped two honrs, wherein he 
gave his expositions ; and I gave, at greater length and liberty than I 
had ever done before, my advices and my views. We parted from each 
other with great cordiality, after a prayer which he himself offered with 
great pathos and piety." 

So the two made everlasting farewells, so far as this world 
was concerned, and parted in life, spirit, and career, each re- 
taining a longing love for the other. The friendship of 
Chalmers, which was not strong enough to draw him person- 
ally into the conflict, or to give him any sympathetic under- 
standing of the entire devotion with which Irving abrogated 
reason itself, in obedience to what he believed the voice of 
Grod, was yet enough to raise him above the vulgar lamenta- 
tions which broke forth, at Irving's death, over his misused 
talents and sacrificed life. The great Scotch divine knew 
well that his friend's life was not wasted ; and with cumbrous 
but grand phraseology, and a labouring of tears in his voice, 
made that eulogium of " the Christian grafted upon the old 
Roman," by which he acknowledged his consciousness, not- 
withstanding separation and estrangement, of this primitive, 
heroic soul. 

In the mean time, however, all the tumults in Irving's 
life were veiled over, and all its hopes subdued, by the 
fluttering of a baby life, as it waned and declined towards 
the grave, which already had swallowed up so many blossoms 
of his existence. This profound domestic anxiety gave him, 
as was natural, a deeper trembling interest in the miraculous 
reports that reached him. The command of intense and 
undoubting faith which had raised Mary Campbell from her 
sick-bed, might still raise that declining infant, whose baby 
days were numbered. From the little bedside he gazed out 
wistfully upon the horizon where miraculous influences 
seemed hovering, but had not yet revealed themselves ; hoping 
in the prayers of the Church, in the faith of the saints, in 
the intervention of the Lord himself, when earthly hope was 
over. It is not possible to enter into this phase of his life 
without perceiving the heart-breaking glimmer of terrible 
hope and expectation which mingles with the elevated and 



irving's new surroundings. 295 

lofty anticipations of a new outpouring of the Spirit, and 
gives a certain colour to the father's hopes and prayers. 

"My darling boy," he writes, "is very poorly. We have no 
dependance upon human help. Nothing but that power of hearing and 
answering prayer offered by the Church, for the testimony of which, as 
still resident in the Church, I have stood these many years, and for 
which these despised Row people are now suffering, can bring my dear 
Samuel from his present weakness back again to strength. Oh, my 

dear A , tell me when this distinction of the works of the Spirit 

into ordinary and extraordinary arose ? There is no such thing in the 
Scriptures. I believe the Holy Ghost is as mighty in the Church, and, 
but for our unbelief, would be as apparent, as ever He was. I pray 
you to be upon your guard against speaking evil of any mighty work 
which you may hear of in the Church ; for in the last days God will 
pour out His Spirit upon all flesh." 

Such seems to have been as yet his attitude in respect to 
the supernatural commotions in the west of Scotland. And 
there is no evidence that as yet they had extended to Lon- 
don, or appeared in his own immediate surroundings. Those 
surroundings, however, had modified and changed as the 
years grew. New friends, bound together by the close and 
peculiar links of prophetic study; new followers detached 
out of other Churches by his influence, and adhering to him 
with all the closeness of choice and personal election, had 
joined the old friends and faithful Churchmen of former days, 
with a more jealous and fervid allegiance. Minds, to whose 
latent enthusiasm his eloquence gave the quickening thrill, 
and who had followed him so far with ever-rising thoughts, 
that it became natural now to follow him whithersoever his 
fervent inspiration might lead, and to believe in everything 
he thought possible, had glided into the circle closest to him, 
surrounding his anxious soul, in its troubles, with a dangerous 
readiness of sympathy and assent. Among them were men 
on whose friendship he reposed with all the characteristic 
trust of his nature ; and women who served him unweariedly 
with willing pen as amanuenses, proud of their office. These 
closest friends watched with himself, with kindred eagerness, 
the flushings of light upon the distant firmament. And to 
him it was always easier to believe the miraculous than the 
mean and common. By right of his nature, he understood a 
thousand times better how Grod could bestow and lavish the 
extraordinary gifts of His grace, than how the poor practica- 
bilities of human nature could limit the Divine profusion. 
It is indeed important to remember, while entering upon 
this most momentous period, how much attuned to the 



296 



ALBURY 



miraculous was his fervid genius and absolute lofty tone; 
and how much the sublimation of his mind gave to all the 
course of nature that aspect of daily miracle which its won- 
derful successions present more or less to every thought- 
ful eye. 

In July, another prophetical meeting was appointed to be 
held at Albury. His child was still ill, indeed hourly progress* 
ing towards his end ; but supported by the thought that this 
was a sacred duty, and the direct service of his Master, and also 
by the assurances given him, by many of his anxious friends, 
of the prayers they had presented, with full assurance of faith, 
for the infant's life, Irving ventured to leave the troubled house- 
hold, where his wife was supported by the presence of her 
mother and sisters. "With what tremblings of love and faith he 
went, will be seen from the following letters : — 

"Albury Park, 1st July, 1830. 
" My dearest Wipe, — While I am serving God in the house of our 
common Husband, Christ, you are serving Him in the house of me, 
your husband, and both of us together fulfilling the portions which 

our God hath allotted us Much have I thought, and much have I 

prayed to God for you and our dear children, especially for our beloved 
Samuel ; and though I cannot say that God hath given me assured faith 
of his recovery, I can say that He hath given me a perfect resignedness 
to His will, which I believe to be the precious preparation for the other. 
Tor until our faith and prayer spring out of resignation — f Not my will 
but Thine be done ' — it is asking amiss to gratify not the life of God, 
but the life of nature, which in us, and all the members of Christ, ought 
to be crucified and dead. Last night I was troubled with some visions 
and dreams which afflicted me ; but this morning, having arisen early, 
I found great consolation in prayer to God. In my prayers I seem to 
forget my own trials in the trials of the Church. I am carried away 
from my own pain to the wound of the daughter of my people. It is 
very curious how I am always brought back to the children through you, 
my partner in their care, and now the whole bearer of it. 'Be careful 
for nothing,' but in everything, by prayer and supplication, make your 
request known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep you. We arrived here at half-past four, not in time 
to write ; and I took up the time till dinner in expressing some thoughts, 

preparatory to my next number of the Apocalypse The subject 

to-day has been the Jews, which always yields much matter. Mr Leach 
opened it, and several have spoken this forenoon with very great power. 
I feel as if far more light had been afforded me upon this subject 
than at any time heretofore. I would say there has been more of the 
spiritual, and less of the literal, — more of the results of wisdom, and 
less of mere knowledge or learning. I trust it will so continue. Ah 
me ! how little do they know who speak evil of this meeting, what it 
really is ! To me it is the greatest spiritual enjoyment in this world. 
I try to devote myself with entire heart to my Father's business, and to 



A FAITHFUL WIFE. 297 

repose you and my dear babes with entire confidence upon His care. 
If I am often invaded by the thoughts and fears of a father, I lift up my 
soul to Him who is the Father. What a blessing to have a faithful 
wife ! Had not you been what God's grace has made you, I would not 
have been here. Had you signified your wish that I should remain, or 
even faltered in your consent, I should not have been here. To you, 
my dear wife, the Church owes whatever benefit I may be of now ; and 
surely I never felt more the duty of addressing myself to the Lord's 
work. Indeed, but for your bearing and forbearing with me, what might 
I at this day not have been, who am now your devoted husband, and 
desiring to be the faithful servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
God reward you with much enjoyment and profit in your love to me, 
for it has been very great ! It has come to rain most fearfully for the 
last hour, and is now pouring down in torrents. God pity the beasts of 
the earth, and let them nOt want. The hay is very much damaged here. 
I desire my most dutiful love to your mother, and my heart-felt thanks 

for her love to us all ; and, oh, remember me lovingly to dear 

Maggie, and tell her to stir up the gift of the Holy Ghost that is in 
her ! and for dear Samuel, God rest and restore him ! Farewell, my well- 
beloved wife. I desire you always to think of me as entirely one with 
you, even as you are with me. My kind consolations to Dr Carlyle, and 
my affectionate love to George. Also remember me with kindness to 
both the servants. 

" Your faithful and affectionate husband, Edwd Irving." 

"Albury, 2nd July, 1830. 
" My very dear Wiee, — I desire to be thankful for the consolation 
of the letter of the two physicians, and I pray you to thank them both 
for me for all their care and kindness. Also I am satisfied to know that 
Dr Farr agrees with the judgment which they have formed and been 
acting on ; and I desire that George and Dr Carlyle should consult to- 
gether, and do for the dear babe whatever they can, and do it in faith as 
far as they are enabled ; joining prayer of faith to their use of means. 
Withal my confidence is with the chief Physician, and I feel only the 
more trust, as I see the case to be the more extreme. One thing I know, 
that my soul hath been much humbled, and my hard heart much melted 
by this visitation of the Lord. All the brethren here seem deeply to 
sympathize with us, and I think there is much grace upon the brethren. 
.... Mr Cunningham is gone away. His company has been very 
pleasant and profitable. He is in very deed a man of God. He con- 
siders himself to have been put out of the Church of Scotland for the 
testimony of the universal atonement. If indeed it be so, he is honoured. 
My dear, we must not treat Christ as a common physician, or believe 
that He has not remedies because the physicians have none. May the 
Holy Spirit grant us strong and lively faith for our dear child ! My 
love, you must take care of yourself, and not undertake so much with- 
out looking up for very much strength by much faith. Let not your 
much labour for dear baby proceed of carefulness, but of a confidence 
in God for strength ; and if God weaken you, consider it as His sign 
that vou should confide more to others. ... Mr Hawtrey, Mr Bayford, 



298 SERVING GOD FOR NOUGHT. 

and T come in to-morrow, taking a chaise from Ripley. 1 shall be home 
about nine o'clock in the evening, 

" Your faithful and affectionate husband, 

"Edward Irving." 

On the 3rd of July he appears to have returned home ; and 
on the 6th this child of prayer gave up its little life, and left 
another blank in the household so often invaded. Miracle did 
not interpose to give joy to God's devoted servant. During 
the whole of this last dread discipline of his life, he served God 
divinely " for nought," receiving none of the extraordinary 
graces he believed in. Already the last trial had begun. Mi- 
raculously from the edge of the grave, Mary Campbell and 
Margaret Macdonald in Scotland, and others in England shortly 
after, near and visible to his eyes and his faith, were brought 
back in safety to fulfil their existence. But it was not so 
that God dealt with His loyal and forlorn soldier. The 
draught of joy, of glorious proof and assurance, that would 
have refreshed his soul, was withheld from his lips. If he 
turned away sighing, with a pang of disappointment added 
to his sorrow, he never paused or slackened, on that account, 
in the faith which did not depend upon personal blessings ; 
but watched, with an interest unabated, the new miraculous 
dispensation, which had not saved his child, but which yefc 
he trusted in as divine and true. 

It was this child, I think, who died so late in the week 
as to leave no time for the afflicted father to find a substitute 
for his Sunday duties. He preached in his own church the 
day after ; taking for his text the words of David — " I shall 
go to him, but he will not return to me." Persons who 
were present have described to me, almost with a sob of 
recollection, the heart-breaking pathos and solemnity of this 
service ; and no one can have read his letters at the time of 
his first child's death, without being able to realize in some 
degree the outburst of ineffable anguish and rejoicing which 
must have been wrung from him by such a necessity. They 
say he went tearless and fasting through that dark Sabbath ; 
and coming in from his pulpit, went straight to the little 
coffin, and flinging himself down by it, gave way to the 
agony of a strong man's grief — grief which was half or 
wholly prayer — an outcry to the one great Confidant of all his 
troubles, the faithful Lord who yet had not interposed to save. 

Shortly after, Irving took his mourning wife and the 
one little daughter who was still spared to him, and whose 
health seems to have been fragile enough to keep them 
anxious on her account also, to Albury, from whence he 



IRVING's VISIT TO IRELAND. 299 

writes to Mrs Martin an account of their journey and 
welfare ; after arriving " in the cool of one of the sweetest 
evenings which was ever seen," as he says with a sacramental 
hush of grief breathing from his words — 

" Maggie has been running about with all manner of cheerfulness 
and joy. The day is delightful, and the scene one of the most enchant- 
ing you ever saw. The house is large and cool ; the manners of it put 
every one at their ease ; and I fondly hope it may be the means of 
restoring my wife and child. I desire to express my great sense of 
your kindness to them and to us all during the late trial of divine 
Providence, as during others which you have witnessed and shared with 
us. We must not murmur, but seek to know the end of the Lord, and 
to submit to His gracious will. Many a time I desire to be with my 
children ; and I hope we shall be all gathered to His congregation ere 
long: for I believe the day of His coming draweth nigh, and that 
before these judgments fall out we shall be taken to Himself and 
receive the morning star. I cannot but feel the greatest interest in 
the things taking place in Scotland. The Church of Christ is recover- 
ing from a long sleep, and the false brethren who are mingled with the 
true are ready to resist her new activity ; and a third party of worthy 
and pious people are perplexed what to think of it. I pray you, and 
all who wish well to the Church, but cannot clearly discern your way 
in the conflict of opinions, to observe the fruits of the two parties, and 
in this way to discover the true from the false prophets. This is the 
counsel of our great Counsellor, ' By their fruits ye shall know them. 5 " 

The melancholy family took their autumn holiday sadly, 
and, so far as Irving was concerned, laboriously as always- 
Prom Albury they went to Ireland, to visit Lady Powers- 
court ; from whose house Mrs Irving writes to her sister. 

" On Monday we left London at 7 a. m., and reached Bath before 7 

P. M Shortly after, some gentlemen, whom Mr E has 

induced to study the Scriptures with him, assembled to spend the 
evening with us. These kind friends had made arrangements for 
Edward preaching at Bath. He did preach, and was said to have had 
a larger congregation than was ever seen before at Bath in a morning. 
We dined early, and our kind host accompanied us in his own chaise 
to Bristol. Several other friends followed us. . . . Here again Ed- 
ward preached to a large and crowded audience. The packet was not 
to sail for Dublin till 5 p. m. ; so we spent part of the morning walking 
about; and Edward passed a pleasant hour with the Rev. Robert 
HaU. ... 

" We landed about 10 p. m. on the Dublin quay ; sO we went to a 
hotel for the night, and next forenoon proceeded to Powerscourt. 
Here we met a kind, hearty welcome. . . . Next morning we drove out 

a few miles to visit a waterfall On our return at three o'clock, 

there was a great gathering to hear Edward preach. After dinner 
Lady Powerscourt and Edward set out to a Mr Kelly's, near Dublin, 
where he met many clergymen. On Sabbath he preached twice in 



300 DUBLIN. 

Dublin : on Monday he again preached twice, and came here to a late 
dinner; there were several clergymen to meet him. Tuesday he 
preached at Bray. On Wednesday he attended a clerical meeting; 
upwards of thirty clergymen, some laymen, and a few ladies present. 
Lady Powerscourt and I stayed at a clergyman's near Dalgony, where 
dear Edward arrived at half-past five o'clock, snatched a hasty dinner, 
and preached at a little after six to a large and most attentive audi- 
ence ; — a most delightful and profitable discourse, and which, we have 
since learnt, made a very deep impression on many, and was understood 

by the poorest of the people On Thursday morning we went 

together and attended a meeting of the Bible Society at Wicklow. 
Edward preached thirteen times in eight days." 

This gigantic holiday work seems to haTe been imposed 
upon him, without the slightest compunction, wherever he 
went ; parties assembling to make all they could out of the 
great preacher, after a twelve hours' journey, and private 
conferences filling up every hour which was not occupied in 
public labour. " You know well from my feeling and acting 
with regard to dear Edward," says his wife, with wifely 
simplicity, " that I am not one who am continually in fear 
about health, when a man is doing the Lord's work." And 
indeed there seems no leisure in this incessant round of 
occupation either for fears of health or precautions to pre- 
serve it. An account of his preaching in Dublin, on this 
occasion, is given in one of the Irish papers of the time 
{Saunders's News-Letter, 18th Sept. 1830), as follows: — 

"The "Rev. Edward Irving, who our readers may recollect is 
minister of the Caledonian chapel in London, preached an able and 
admirable discourse yesterday, at the Scots' chapel. . . . This place of 
worship was not only crowded to suffocation, but several hundreds 
assembled outside on benches placed for their accommodation in the 
yard. The reverend preacher was placed at the south-west window, 
the frame of which had been previously removed, from which he was 
audibly heard by the external as well as internal portion of the congre- 
gation. We observed many highly respectable Roman Catholic gentle- 
men present; among them were Messrs Costello, Nugent, and other 
members of the late Catholic Association." 

A month later, on his return to London, Irving himself 
thus related the most beautiful incident of his Irish travels, 
to his sister-in-law Elizabeth, who was then at Kirkcaldy, in 
the paternal house. 

"London, 13th October, 1830, 

"My dear. Sister, — Though I have but a very short moment, I 

will not let Mr Hamilton go without sending you my love and blessing. 

I leave to him to inform you how our matters in the Presbytery at 

present stand, both with respect to Mr Scott and myself. Of this I 



little maggie's song. 301 

have no fear, that the Lord is the strength of all His faithful people, 
and that we are contending for the foundation of the truth when we 
maintain that Christ was holy in spite of the law of the flesh working 
in Him as in another man ; but in Him never prevailing as it does in 
every other man. It was my turn to preach before the Presbytery, 
and I spent two of the most gracious hours of my life in opening the 
subject of the Church as a co-essential part of the purpose of God, 
with the Incarnation of the Son, unto which this was the preparation 
and likewise the way, and all the means and all the life of it. Mr 
Brown, our missionary,* sees in all respects with me,. and said there 
was not a word in my discourse wherein he took not pleasure, and 
that the statement on the humanity was in every tittle satisfactory to 
bim. 

"My dear Isabella and Maggie are at Lady Olivia Sparrow's ; . . . 
Miss Macdonald is there also : they are well. . . . What do you think 
of this little song : 

' Come, my little lambs, 
And feed by my side, 
And I will give you to eat of my body, 
And to drink of the blood of my flesh, 
And ye shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, 
And whosoever believeth not on me 

Shall be cast out ; 
But he that believeth on me 

Shall feed with me 
Beside my Father.' 

"It has not metre nor regular measure, and yet there is a fine 
rhythm in it ; and I daresay your father would say it might be very 
well set to music. You wili say, who made it ? I will tell you. 
When the Countess of Powerscourt, after her noble and Christian 
entertainment of us, thought it good to bring us in her own carriage to 
the waterside at Kingstown, and the boat was not arrived by reason of 
the terrible west wind, we went into the inn ; and Isabella, as her case 
required, was resting on the sofa, Lady Powerscourt sitting before the 
fire with Maggie on her knee, and I between her ladyship and my wife. 
Maggie broke the silence ; for God had given us all three much love 
for one another, and we were silent, being loath to part. Maggie said : 
' Lady Powerscourt, shall I sing you a song ? ' ' Yes, Maggie, 5 said 
her ladyship. Whereupon the child, modulating her voice most sweetly, 
poured forth these divine words. When she was finished, her ladyship 
said : c Does not that comfort you ? ' But I wist not it was the child's 
making, and understood not what she meant ; but perceiving she 
wished not to explain further (it was for fear of begetting vain conceit 
in the child), I said no more : but Maggie left her ladyship's knee, 
and went to the other side of the room. Then I said to Isabella, 
' Where did Maggie learn that song, and who taught it her ? ' She 
said : 'Nowhere, and no one taught her.' I called the child and said: 

* This gentleman had succeeded Mr Scott when the latter was called to 
the "Woolwich church, and was in reality Irving' s assistant or curate. 



302 CONGRATULATIONS. 

c Maggie, my dear, who taught you that song ? ' She said : ' Nobody. 
I made it one day after bathing ; ' and so I thought upon the words, 
' Out of the mouth of babes and of sucklings I have ordained praise/ 
and I was comforted. Read it to your father and mother, and tell my 
dear sister Margaret to set it to a tune and sing it of an evening at her 
house when she goes home ; and think of the sweet and of the sad 
hours she, as well as you, dear Elizabeth, have passed with us. Give 
my love to your dear parents as also mine, and to air the family. Be 
filled with love, my dear child, to all men, and have the mind of Christ. 
Think not of yourself, but of your Lord, and of the glory of your God. 
.... Be steadfast and immovable in the truth, and give up all things 
for it. Farewell ! God be with you, and bless you and your husband, 
and bring you back in safety ! 

" Erom your faithful brother and pastor, 

"Edwd Irving." 

Thus the five-year- old Maggie, sole blossom at that time 
of the two saddened lives she cheered, comforted her father's 
soul. He paints the little picture with minute quaint touches, 
which would be like Dutch painting, were they not always 
full of a pathetic tenderness which has no accordance with 
that name. The scene lives before us in all its profound 
simplicity and silent emotion, distinct and vivid as reality. 
It is pleasant to know that this child was very like her 
father ; grew up to have his voice, his features, something of 
his power of winning hearts ; and died in full womanhood, 
"but in youth, untouched by any vulgar fate. The " dear 
sister Margaret," whom he exhorts to sing this touching 
childish utterance, was then a bride, just about going to her 
new home in the hereditary manse of Monimail, where her 
venerable grandsire had died not very long before. To her 
and to her husband, the following letter of congratulation 
was shortly thereafter addressed. 

"Brampton Court, October, 1830. 
"My dear Margaret and James, — I am just setting out to 
preach at Huntingdon, and take up my pen, before starting, to give 
you my benediction. May the Lord fulfil upon you the prayers which 
we have prayed for you, and make you as those that preceded you at 
Monimail! I cannot present to you two better examples. Dear 
Margaret, be in dutiful subjection to your husband and strengthen his 
hands in every good work, — ' good works in her husband to promote.' 
Dear James, be a loving husband, a guardian, and a guide to our 
Margaret; she is a precious person. God be your guide and your 
portion ! His truth is your common rule, and His love your com- 
munion and fellowship 

" Your faithfid brother, 

"Edwd Irving." 






NOTE ON SAMUEL MAETIN's BIBLE. 303 

At Brampton Court, from which this letter is written, he 
was, as usual, overwhelm ed with supererogatory labours. 
" Dear Edward hurried down from London again, to be with 
me as soon as possible," writes his wife. " There are a 
goodly number of hearers, and hearers all day long here ; so 
that yesterday Edward spoke almost constantly from nine in 
the morning till eleven at night, what with expositions, 
dictating for an hour, and answering questions." How 
either mind or body sustained this perpetual pouring forth, 
it seems difficult to imagine ; but though this very letter 
proves that he still wrote, dictating to some of his faithful 
amanuenses, it is a relief to believe that much of this must 
have been extempore. Tears before, he had written a brief 
and striking note on Samuel Martin's Bible. " My brother, 
no man is furnished for the ministry, till he can unclasp his 
pocket Bible, and wherever it opens, discourse from it 
largely and spiritually to the people." Nothing but such a 
capacity could have carried him through the incessant calls 
upon him ; which indeed are curious exemplars how those 
pious nobles who are nursing fathers and mothers to religion, 
having laid hold upon such a notable and willing labourer, 
do their best to work him to death. 

It is very evident, at the same time, that he never had a 
thought or conception of saving himself. A glimpse of an- 
other unsuspected branch of labour gleams out in a speech 
reported in the newspapers as having been made at one of 
the May meetings in this year, a meeting in behalf of the 
Destitute Seamen's Asylum, at which the great preacher 
appeared to " bear testimony to the excellence of the institu- 
tion from personal observation, having been accustomed to 
minister to the seamen once a fortnight. He had witnessed," 
he says, "the spectacle of six or seven houseless seamen 
herding at the bottleworks at Shadwell, for the sake of the 
warmth," but had afterwards found " from 130 to 150 seated 
in comfort to a homely meal, with such a spirit of order 
maintained among them, that never in one instance had his 
holy avocation been disturbed by any act of irreverence." 
So far as any one can see, he had nothing in the world to 
do with these sailors, with all his own manifold affairs in 
hand ; but to a soul never in any difficulty to know who was 
his neighbour, such brotherly offices were more restful than 
rest. 

On his return to London from these laborious wander- 
ings, he writes to his wife, — " The Lord has preserved my 
flock in love and unity ; and we assembled on Sunday as 



304 MOVEMENT IN THE PRESBYTERY OF LONDON. 

numerous as at any former period. Our meeting of Session 

was very delightful Mr Henderson and Dr Thompson 

are fully convinced of the reality of the hand of Grod in the 
west country work, and so is Mr Cardale. Pray for Mary 
Campbell ; she is under some temptations." But while this 
was a matter of constant reference and anxious expectation, 
and while restoration to health, as miraculous and extra- 
ordinary as that which happened at the Grairloch, had startled 
into still warmer excitement the believers about London in 
the wonderful case of Miss Eancourt, Irving's mind was still 
much more entirely occupied with the momentous matter of 
doctrine on which so great a commotion had lately risen. 
Mr Maclean's case was not yet decided ; but Mr Scott had, as 
has been mentioned, formally withdrawn his from the con- 
sideration of the Presbytery of London, in consequence of 
the objections against ordination, and some other points of 
doctrine, which had arisen in his mind. The Presbytery of 
London was reduced in number at the moment. Several of 
those ministers who came to the conclusion, which a few 
months before gave so much comfort to Irving, seem to have 
left its bounds. The little ecclesiastical court was balked 
but emboldened by the discussion, which had been rendered 
fruitless by the withdrawal of Mr Scott ; and now a bolder 
move suggested itself to one of its members, who resolved 
upon bringing the great preacher himself to the bar. 

This process and its issue he himself describes, with his 
usual minuteness, in the preface to Christ's Holiness in the 
Flesh, from which we have already quoted. After reference 
to the discussion in Mr Scott's case, the narrative goes on as 
follows : — 

"Some time after this, one of the brethren of the Presbytery 
signified to me by letter his purpose of calling my book into question 
the next day after he wrote, when the Presbytery was to meet ; to 
whom I replied that this was to proceed against the divine rule of 
Christ, which required him to speak to myself privately, and then with 
witnesses, before bringing a matter before the Church. In this he 
acquiesced, and did not make any motion concerning it ; but another 
brother did, when I solemnly protested against the proceeding ; and 
the Presbytery would not entertain it, but required that I should be 
privately conferred with. Many weeks passed, but no one of them 
came near me, until the next meeting of the Presbytery was just at 
hand. Then the first mover of the matter waited upon me, and I laid 
before him the tract, instructing him to point me out the objectionable 
parts, when, to my amazement, he either would not or could not ; for 
though he shuffled over its leaves, he could not alight upon anything; 
and then at length he said he would write what he objected to. But 



IRVING SEPARATES FROM THE PRESBYTERY. 305 

he never did it. I stood engaged to be in Ireland, and could not be 
present at the next meeting of Presbytery; yet in my absence he 
sought to force it on, and was' again prevented by the Presbytery. 
When I returned, being appointed with two other members of Presby- 
tery (for besides myself there were but three ministers in all), to confer 
with the young preacher referred to above, as desiring to withdraw his 
application for ordination, because he could not sign the Westminster 
Confession of Faith ; when the conference was over, these two brethren 
did request that we might converse together upon the tract ; and they 
pointed out two or three passages in it to which they objected, for 
which kindness I was very thankful. But still the brother who had 
stood forth from time to time as my accuser took no opportunity of 
conferring with me whatever. And when, at the next meeting, he 
brought forward his motion indicting my book, and reading from it 
many passages to which he objected, I stood forth, and having first 
disabused the Presbytery, and also the people, of the errors laid to my 
charge, as if I taught that Christ sinned in instead of sanctifying our 
nature, I moved that the contumacious brother should be censured for 
setting at nought both the canon of the Lord and the order of the 
Presbytery, and be required to proceed regularly. But, to my astonish- 
ment and vexation, I found the very same Presbytery willing to 
indulge him, and these very members who had themselves sanctioned 
their own order by conferring privately with me. I then rose the 
second time, and signified to them what I could and what I could not 
submit to, the adjudication of that body of three ministers and as many 
elders, from whom I had no appeal. Everything which affected my 
conduct amongst them as a brother, I would submit to free censure 
and rebuke if necessary ; but nothing affecting my standing as a 
preacher and ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, and as the 
minister of the National Scotch Church in Regent Square, who, by the 
trust-deed, must be ordained by a Presbytery in Scotland, and not by 
the Presbytery of London. It was argued that I stood wholly and en- 
tirely at their tribunal ; and when I perceived that there was nothing 
for it but either to give up my standing as a minister of Christ to the 
judgment of these six men, or to dissolve my voluntary connection with 
them, I resolved of the two evils to choose the least, and not to submit 
the authority of the Church of Scotland to the verdict of any six men in 
Christendom. And though I have tried my conscience much, I feel 
that I did right. But before taking this final step, I rose the third 
time and conjured them by every tie and obligation to Christ, to the 
Church, to myself personally, to my large and numerous flock, to the 
memory of my brotherly labours with and for them, to my acts of ser- 
vice and kindness to them individually, which I will not here, and did not 
there, enumerate, to take the regular process of the Lord's appointing, 
and I doubted not all would be well. Which when they would not do, 
I arose and went forth from them, appealing my cause to the Church of 

Scotland, who alone have rightful authority over me and my flock 

The Presbytery, notwithstanding my solemn separation from their asso- 
ciation, and likewise the separation of the elders of the National Church, 
and the whole Church with us, proceeded with their measures against 
me, and carried things to the utmost stretch of their power. Por all 
20 



306 ISOLATION OF IRVING. 

which they are answerable at the bar of the Head of the Church, and 
not to me-" 

This somewhat wilful and lofty step of denying the juris- 
diction of the London Presbytery, left Irving in an isolated 
position, which, though it did not in any respect, as yet, 
injure his external standing, touched his brotherly heart. He 
seems to have intrenched himself stoutly, like the impracti- 
cable visionary man he was, behind that divine rule of 
procedure which has long ceased to be, if ever it was, the 
rule of ecclesiastical proceedings. To require men to do, 
even in Church matters, exactly and literally what their 
Lord tells them, is a thing few think of attempting ; and the 
ordinary spectator will doubtless sympathize to some extent 
with that hapless Presbytery of London, whom the great 
preacher, in the simplicity of his heart, called to private 
conference with himself, before they ventured on public 
condemnation. He was not aware, as his unfortunate accuser 
was, that in private conference the weaker man naturally 
goes to the wall; nor could comprehend, in his ingenuous 
greatness, how antagonists, so unfit to cope with him in- 
dividually, might be glad to huddle together, and express, in 
what language of condemnation they could, their confused 
sense of something beyond them which they could neither 
consent to nor understand. Nothing can be more expressive 
than that pertinacious agreement which, when they were 
thus put to it, united the alarmed presbyters, each man of 
whom well knew that, in private conference, he must in- 
fallibly break down and yield. They seized their oppor- 
tunity with a vulgar but wise perception of it, refusing the 
perilous ordeal of private personal encounter; and with a 
lofty indignation, which might be almost arrogance, were 
one to name it harshly, the accused arose and went forth. 
He had no insight into that expedient of weakness. He 
called that harshly injustice, which was mere fright and na- 
tural human poltroonery — and so left them, giving, in his own 
elevated thoughts, a certain grandeur to the petty persecu- 
tion. Henceforth he was alone in his labours and troubles ; 
no triumphant gladness of conscious orthodoxy, because the 
Presbytery had so decided, could hereafter give assurance to 
his own personal certainty. They of his own house had 
lifted up their heel against him. Notwithstanding all his 
independence, the profound loyalty of his soul was hence- 
forward balked of its healthful necessities. The only authority 
which could now harm or help him, — the sole power he 
recognized, — was distant in Scotland, apart from the scene of 



STATEMENT BY HIS KIRK- SESSION. 307 

his warfare and the knowledge of his work, judging coldly, 
not even without a touch of jealous prejudice. He was cast 
unnaturally free of restraint and power ; that lawful, sweet 
restraint, that power endowed with all visionary excellences 
and graces, to which the tender dutifulness so seldom want- 
ing to great genius naturally clings. It was hard, — it was 
sad, — it was almost fatal work for Irving. He could not live 
without that support and solace ; and when this disjunction 
was accomplished, he found his presbytery, his authority, 
the needful concurrence and command which were indispens- 
able to him, in other things. 

In these circumstances the Session of the National Scotch 
Church drew up a statement to the following effect : 

"London, 15th December, 1830. 

" We, the Minister, Missionary, Elders, and Deacons of the Na- 
tional Scotch Church, Regent Square, feel it a duty we owe to our- 
selves, to the congregation to which we belong, to the Church of Christ, 
and to all honest men, no longer to remain silent under the heavy charges 
that are brought against us, whether from ignorance, misapprehension, 
or wilfid perversion of the truth ; and therefore we solemnly declare — 

" That we utterly detest and abhor any doctrine that would charge 
with sin, original or actual, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
whom we worship and adore as ' the very and eternal God, of one sub- 
stance and equal with the Father ; who, when the fulness of the time 
was come, did take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential pro- 
perties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin;' 'very God 
and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and 
man ;' who in the days of His flesh was ' holy, harmless, undented, and 
fall of grace and truth ; ' ' who through the Eternal Spirit offered Him- 
self without spot to God;' 'the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world,' ' a Lamb without blemish and without spot ; ' in which 
offering of Himself ' He made a proper, real, and full satisfaction to His 
Father's justice in our behalf.' And we further declare that all our 
peace of conscience, progress in sanctification, and hope of eternal bless- 
edness, resteth upon the sinlessness of that sacrifice, and the complete- 
ness of that atonement, which He hath made for us as our substitute. 

" And, finally, we do solemnly declare that these are the doctrines 
which are constantly taught in this Church, agreeably to the standards 
of the Church of Scotland, and the Word of God. 

"Edward Ieving, Minister. 
David Beown, Missionary. 
Akchtbald Hoen, i Charles Verttte, 

David Blyth, Alex. Gillispie, Jun. 

Wm. Hamilton, )» Elders. John Thomson, 

Duncan Mackenzie, J. C. Henderson, 

James Nisbet, J Thomas Caeswell, 

David Kee, 



308 PETITION TO THE KING. 

In the midst of these personal agitations and ecclesiastical 
troubles, a quaint and characteristic public incident diversifies 
the history. The congregation at Regent Square, under 
Irving's inspiration, had decided upon presenting a petition 
to the King, calling upon him to appoint a national fast. 
The petition itself, a powerful and eloquent production, like 
all Irving's personal appeals, is now only to be found in 
collections of the tracts and pamphlets of the period. Ac- 
companied by three of his elders, he went to Lord Melbourne 
by appointment, to present this singular address. "While 
they waited in the ante-room the premier's leisure, Irving 
called upon his somewhat amazed and embarrassed com- 
panions to kneel and pray for "favour in the sight of the 
King's minister," as a private letter describes it. "When 
they were admitted to the jaunty presence of that cheerful 
functionary, the preacher read over to him at length the 
remarkable document he came to present ; during the read- 
ing of which, we are told, " Lord Melbourne was much im- 
pressed ; and also by some solemn things Mr Mackenzie 
(one of the elders) said, on the only means of saving this 
country." When they took leave, the minister " shook hands 
heartily " with Irving, who, holding that hand in his gigantic 
grasp, " implored the blessing and guidance of Grod on his 
administration." A scene more remarkable could scarcely 
be. On one side an impersonation of the good-hearted, 
cheerful man of the world, bland by temper and policy, to 
whom most things were humbug, and truth a fluctuating 
possibility ; and confronting him the man of God, in utter 
loyalty and simplicity, mournful over falsehood, but little 
suspicious of it, to whom all truth was absolute, and hesita- 
tion or compromise unknown. They confronted each other 
for a moment, a wonderful spectacle; the prophet soul 
bestowing lofty benedictions upon the awed and wondering 
statesman. It is a picture with which we may well close 
the record of this momentous year. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

1831. 



The year 1831 dawned upon Irving solemnly, full of all 
the prognostics of approaching fate. He was himself separ- 



CHURCH CONFLICTS, 309 

ated from the little ecclesiastical world wliicli had hitherto 
represented to him the Church of his country and his heart. 
The Presbytery, in which he had heretofore found a sufficient 
symbol of ecclesiastical authority, and which stood in the 
place of all those venerable institutions of Church govern- 
ment and legislation on which he had lavished the admiration 
and reverence of his filial heart, had rejected him, and been 
rejected by him. While still strenuously upholding his own 
title to be considered a minister of the Church of Scotland, 
he stood isolated from all the fellowships and restraints of 
Presbyterianism, virtually separated — though always refusing 
to believe in or admit that separation — from the Church upon 
which he still and always looked with so much longing love. 
His closest and most prized friends were in actual conflict 
with the same ecclesiastical authorities ; or at least with the 
popular courts and theological controversialists who were 
all that Scotland had to represent the grave and patient au- 
thority of the Church. Mr Campbell, of Row, after years of 
apostolical labour, the efficacy of which was testified by the 
whole district which his influence pervaded, a man whose 
vital piety and apostolical life nobody could impugn, and Mr 
Maclean, younger, less wise, but not less a faithful servant 
of his Master, were both struggling for bare existence in the 
Church, and approaching the decision of their fate within 
her bounds. Their names were identified and united with 
that of the solitary champion in London, whose forlorn but 
dauntless standard had risen for years among all the enmities 
which can be encountered by man. He who had not hesi- 
tated to adopt the cause of both with warm enthusiasm, stood 
far off" in his solitude, watching, with a heart that ached over 
his own powerlessness to avert it, the approaching crisis, at 
which his beloved Church was, according to his conception, 
to deny the truth, and condemn her own hopes and future 
life in the persons of these " defenders " at her bar. Nearer 
home, Mr Scott had temporarily withdrawn from the contest, 
which, in his case also, was to be decided at the sitting of 
the G-eneral Assembly, in the ensuing May. Without even 
that beloved henchman at his elbow, supported only by an 
assistant, who, doubtless entirely conscientious and trust- 
worthy so long as his support lasted, was yet to fail him in 
his hour of need, Irving stood alone, at the head of his Ses- 
sion, clinging to that last prop of the ecclesiastical order in 
which during all his former life his soul had delighted. Con- 
demned by his Presbytery, and held in suspicion by the dis- 
tant Church to which he owed allegiance, the little local con- 



310 

sistory stood by him loyally, without an appearance as yet of 
division. Every man of them had come forward in his de- 
fence and justification, to set their name and credit to the 
stake on which he had put his heart and life. They were 
his earliest and closest friends in London, stout Churchmen, 
pious Christians, sufficiently Scotch and ecclesiastical, at- 
tached to all the traditions of the Church, to make it possible 
to forget that they stood, a little recalcitrant community, 
and " inferior court," in opposition to the orthodox jurisdic- 
tion of the next superior circle of rulers. Minister and 
Session alike delivered themselves triumphantly from this 
dilemma, by direct reference to the Church of Scotland. It 
is possible that a little unconscious Jesuitry lay in this ap- 
peal ; for the Church of Scotland was as powerless to inter- 
fere on the southern side of the Tweed, as the Bishop of Lon- 
don would be on the north ; and so long as the minister of 
the National Scotch Church refrained from asking anything 
from her, could not interfere, otherwise than by distant and 
ineffectual censures, with his proceedings. Such, however, 
was the attitude they assumed ; a position not dissimilar 
from that of certain English clergymen in Scotland, who, pro- 
fessing to be of the English Church, refuse the jurisdiction 
of the Scottish Episcopal, and live bishopless, and beyond 
the reach of government, in visionary allegiance to their dis- 
tant mother. 

In the same spring, while still explaining and re-explain- 
ing to his friends, with inexhaustible patience, his special 
doctrine, Irving was also preparing another work on the 
same subject, published shortly afterwards under the title of 
Christ's Holiness in Flesh ; the Form and Fountain-head of all 
Holiness in Flesh. The preface of this book consists of a 
long, minute, and animated narrative of the progress of the 
controversy as far as it had proceeded, and especially of the 
dealings of the London Presbytery with himself, to which I 
have already repeatedly referred. The story is told with a 
certain flush of indignation and self-assertion, as of a man 
unable to deny his own consciousness of being himself a 
servant and soldier of Jesus Christ, more zealous and more 
fully acknowledged of his Master, than those who, in Christ's 
name, had condemned him. The book itself is one which he 
seems to have been satisfied with as a fit and careful state- 
ment of his views. " I should like that it were sent among 
the clergy," he writes to his friend Mr Macdonald, in Edin- 
burgh, " I think it will be popular enough to pay its own ex- 
penses in time." In the same letter he declares that " I in- 



PRAYER FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 311 

tend being in Edinburgh at the Assembly, if I should crawl 
and beg my way. God give me both strength of body and 
mind to endure what is before me ! I intend proceeding by 
Galloway and Dumfriesshire ; and desire to preach in Edin- 
burgh twice a day the first week of the Assembly ; the second, 
to be at leisure for conference and business." This inten- 
tion, however, he did not succeed in carrying out. The still 
more engrossing interest then springing up at home, or 
motives of prudence, strange to his usual mode of procedure, 
kept Irving away from the actual arena at that momentous 
period. He did not go to Edinburgh for that Assembly, nor 
thrust himself into conflict with the Church. "What hap- 
pened there he watched with the utmost eagerness and in- 
terest ; but the prudence of his friends, or his own interest 
in matters more immediately calling his attention, kept him 
at that moment from personal collision with the excited and 
jealous courts of the Scotch Church. 

He did, however, all that an earnest man could do to in- 
fluence their proceedings. Having already exhausted him- 
self in explanation and appeal to the tribunal where he still 
hoped to find mercy and wisdom in the case of his friends, 
and patience and consideration for himself, he did the only 
thing which remained possible to his devout and believing 
heart. He besought the prayers of his people for the direc- 
tion of the ecclesiastical parliament. In the brightening 
mornings of spring he invited around him the members of 
the Church to pray for wisdom and guidance to the General 
Assembly — an Assembly which, to many of these members, 
had been hitherto little known, and less cared for. He col- 
lected not only his staunch Scottish remnant, but his new 
and still more fervent disciples, who knew nothing of Scot- 
land or her Church, to agree upon this thing which they should 
ask of God. They met at half-past six in the morning for 
this object ; and there, in the Church so fondly called Na- 
tional, Irving, fervent and impassioned, presented the prayers 
— not only of the Scotch Churchmen who understood the 
matter fully, but of the puzzled English adherents who be- 
lieved in him, and were content to join their supplications 
with his for a matter so near his heart — on behalf of the 
ecclesiastical rulers who were about to brand and stigmatize 
him as a heretic. This prayer-meeting for the benefit of the 
General Assembly, was the origin of the early morning 
service which has now become one of the characteristic fea- 
tures in the worship of the " Catholic Apostolic Church." 
Engaged in these daily matins on their behalf, Irving re- 



312 "in labours abundant." 

mained absent from the Assembly and the people of Edin- 
burgh at a crisis so interesting and important, but did not 
the less follow the deliberations, in which he himself and his 
friends were so deeply concerned, with breathless interest 
and anxious attention. 

Neither his personal activity, however, nor the popularity 
which had so long followed him, was impaired by the anxiety 
of the crisis, or by the rush of his thoughts in another direc- 
tion. He still spent himself freely in all manner of voluntary 
services. In April, his sister-in-law Elizabeth, Mrs Hamil- 
ton, mentions, in her home letters, that " Edward has com- 
menced a Thursday morning lecture, besides the "Wednesday 
evening. He is going through John's Gospel in the morning, 
and through Genesis in the evening. The Sunday evening 
services are crowded to overflowing at present. The subject 
is the second coming of Christ, from the last chapter of 2nd 
Peter." He is also still visible at public meetings, taking his 
share in the general interests of religion everywhere ; labour- 
ing yet again to convince the Bible Society to sanctify its 
business with prayer ; giving up, as he himself relates, " all 
his spare time to the Jewish Institution," and getting into 
private embroilments by reason of his friendliness towards 
strangers — Hr Chalmers at this time being, as it appears, 
irritated with Irving and some of his friends on account of 
their generous patronage of a Jew, whom the Doctor, too, 
would willingly have patronized as a convert, but was not 
content to admit into all the equalities of Christian fellow- 
ship. If ever there was a time when Irving, longing for the 
adulation which attended his earlier years, and smarting from 
the neglect which followed, or is supposed, with a dramatic 
completeness not always inevitable in real life, to have fol- 
lowed it, turned aside to woo back fashion by singularity, 
now at last must have occurred that moment. But it is not 
the aspect of a feverish ambition, straining after the applause 
of the crowd, which meets our gaze in this man, now lingering, 
trembling upon the threshold of his fate. Eashion has been 
gone for years — years of wholesome, generous, gigantic labour; 
and on the very eve of the time when strange lights flushing 
over his firmament were anew to raise curiosity to frenzy, 
and direct against him all the outcries of propriety and all 
the transitory excitement of the mob, it is a figure all unlike 
the disappointed prophet, ready rather to call down fire from 
heaven than to suffer himself to fade from the public recol- 
lection, which reveals itself before our eyes. Instead of that 
hectic apparition, there stood in the crowded heart of Lon- 



ON THE THRESHOLD OF FATE. 313 

don a man whom the world had never been able to forget ; 
who needed no extraordinary pretence of miracle to recall 
his name to men's recollections ; whose name, on the con- 
trary, had only to be connected with any obscure ecclesias- 
tical process to make that and everything connected with it 
the object of immediate attention and interest, jealous public 
guardians flashing their lights upon it, for the sake of the 
one name always intelligible through the gloom. London 
journals grew to be familiar with the technical terms of 
Scotch Presbyterianism for Irving's sake. The English pub- 
lic suffered strange forms of ecclesiastical conflict to occupy 
its regard, because he was in the midst. This was little like 
the dismal neglect which wakes mad fancies in the heart of 
genius. "Wherever he went, crowds waylaid his steps, turn- 
ing noble country-houses into impromptu temples, and seizing 
the stray moments of his leisure with jealous eagerness. His 
own Church was crowded to overflowing at those services 
which were least exclusively congregational. Amid all this 
his own eyes, burning with life and ardour, turned not to 
fashion or the great world, not to society or the givers of 
fame, but were bent with anxious gaze upon that " grey city 
of the North," where the Scotch Assembly gathered, and 
where, as he conceived, the beloved Church of his fathers 
was herself at the bar to acknowledge or deny the truth. 
"While he stood thus, the moment was approaching when an- 
other chapter of his history — the darkest, the saddest, the 
last, perhaps in some respects the most splendid of all — was 
to dawn upon Irving. At this crisis, when he has been sup- 
posed to be wandering wildly astray, — a disappointed no- 
toriety — a fanatic enthusiast — a man in search of popular 
notice and applause, here is the homely picture of him in the 
words of his sister Elizabeth ; a picture only heightened out 
of its calm of sensible simplicity by the tender touch of do- 
mestic love: — "Edward continues remarkably well, notwith- 
standing his many labours," writes this affectionate witness. 
" On Sunday we did not get home from the morning service 
till two o'clock. He came with us ; and after dinner William 
and he went to visit two families in sickness ; took tea at 
Judd Place, and went to church, half an hour before service, 
to talk with young communicants ; went through the evening 
service with great animation, preaching a beautiful sermon 
on ' A new commandment give I unto you ; ' walked up here 
again, and William and he went to pray with a child, up at 
"White Conduit House. He then returned home, and was in 
church next morning as usual at half-past six o'clock. God 



316 PRAYERS FOR THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 

for the outpouring of the Spirit that they now resolved to ask ; 
for the bestowal of those miraculous gifts of which news came 
without ceasing from Scotland — which were daily hoped for 
with gradually increasing intensity among themselves — and 
which, if once revealed, they did not doubt would be to the 
establishing of a mighty influence in the great city which surged 
and groaned around them, a perpetual battle-ground of human 
passion. For this they prayed in the early quiet of the summer 
mornings as May brightened into J une. To this, the indignant 
excitement of the ecclesiastical crisis over, Irving turned with 
eyes which saw no help in man. During the interval, that 
other question had been gathering force and shape. Miraculous 
instances of healing were told, and discussed, and proved, and 
contested, in the London world, as they had been in the anxious 
local world of which the Grairloch was the centre. Among 
those who prayed every morning for the extension of this mar- 
vel to London, and for the visible manifestation of Grod and 
his wonderful works among themselves, there was one at least 
so intent upon the petition he urged, and so sure that what 
he asked was in conformity with the will of Grod, that his 
anxious gaze almost had power to create upon the horizon the 
light he looked for. But still there was nothing unearthly or 
inhuman in the aspect of the man who thus stood between 
earth and heaven pleading, with a fervour that would not 
understand denial, for the inspiration promised to the last 
days. He forgot neither the rights of a man nor the duties of 
a brother in that solemn and overwhelming expectation. To 
a heart so high and a spirit so devout, miracle itself, indeed, 
was rather an unveiling of the ineffable glories always known 
and felt to be present where Grod's presence was felt and 
known, than a breach of the laws of nature, or a harsh though 
splendid discordance struck among the common chords of life. 
The heart within him was miraculously akin to all wonders and 
splendours. It was his cherished and joyful hope to see with 
human eyes his Master Himself descend to the visible millennial 
throne ; and there was, to his sublimed vision, a certain magni- 
ficent probability in the flood of divine utterance and action 
for which he prayed and waited. 

The first intimation of the actual appearance of the expected 
miraculous gifts is given simply and almost incidentally in a 
letter, addressed to Mr Story, of Rosneath, dated in July of 
this year, in which, after exhorting his friend, who had been 
ill, to " have faith to be healed," Irving proceeds to speak of 
the ecclesiastical matters, in which both were so deeply in- 
terested, as follows : — 



FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE TONGUES. 317 

" I feel as if it were the duty of every minister of the Church of 
Scotland to open his pulpit to Campbell and Maclean, and take the con- 
sequences ; and that the people should no longer hear those ministers 
who cast them out and the truth of God with them, until these ministers 
have returned to the preaching of the truth. For they have declared 
themselves Antichrist in denying that Christ came in the flesh ; and they 
have denied both the Father and the Son. The Church naturally con- 
sidered is one, but rightly considered is many, according to the number 
of her ministers ; each Church standing or falling with its angel. Now 
these angels have all declared themselves enemies of Christ and His 
truth ; and I say, therefore, it is the duty of the people to come out aod 
be separate. I am sounding this matter to the bottom, and shall set it 
forth in regular order. Dear Story, you keep too much aloof from the 
good work of the Spirit which is proceeding beside you. Two of my 
flock have received the gift of tongues and prophecy. The Church here 
is to inquire into it. We had a conference of nearly twenty last Wed- 
nesday at Dodsworth's, and we are to have another next Wednesday. 
Draw not back, brother, but go forward. The kingdom of heaven is only 
to be won by the brave. Keep your conscience unfettered by your un- 
derstanding." 

It was in July this letter was written, but not until four 
months later did the new wonder manifest itself publicly. In 
the interval, notwithstanding his eagerness and strong prepos- 
session in favour of these miraculous pretensions, Irving took 
the part of an investigator, and, according to his own conviction, 
examined closely and severely into the wonderful phenomena 
now presented before him. He explains the whole process 
with his usual lofty candour in his speech before the London 
Presbytery, a year later, in which he discloses, at the outset, the 
profound prepossession and bias in his believing mind, w 7 hile he 
is evidently quite unconscious how this could detract in the 
least from the conscientious severity of the probation to which 
he subjected the gifted persons. This is, however, so important 
an element in the matter, and one which throws so touching a 
light upon all the unthought-of extents to which his faith after- 
wards carried him — besides being, as he thought, an important 
particular in proof of the reality of the gifts themselves — that 
it is worthy of special notice. " I, as Christ's dutiful minister, 
standing in His room and responsible to Him (as are you all), 
have not dared to believe that, when we ashed bread, He gave us 
a stone, and when we ashed fish, He gave us a serpent" he says, 
out of the simplicity of his devout heart, recognizing only in 
this complicated matter — which involved so profound a maze of 
incomprehensible human motives, emotions, and purposes — the 
devout sincerity of prayer on the one hand, and the certain 
faithfulness of promise on the other. They had asked their 



318 THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 

' faithful Master for these wonders of His grace ; and when the 
wonders came, how could the loyal, lofty, unsuspicious soul, 
confident in the honour and truth of all men as in his own, 
dare to believe that Grod, when asked for bread, had given only 
a stone ? But all unaware that by this very sentiment he pre- 
judged the matter, Irving went on to make assurance sure by 
careful and deliberate investigation, which he accordingly de- 
scribes as follows : — 

" We met together about two weeks before the meeting of the Ge- 
neral Assembly, in order to pray that the General Assembly might be 
guided in judgment by the Lord, the Head of the Church ; and we add- 
ed thereto prayers for the present low state of the Church. We cried 
unto the Lord for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, 
anointed with the Holy Ghost, the gift of Jesus, because we saw it 
written in God's Word that these are the appointed ordinances for the 
edifying of the body of Jesus. We continued in prayer every morning, 
morning by morning, at half-past six o'clock ; and the Lord was not 
long in hearing and in answering our prayers. He sealed first one, and 
then another, and then another, and then another • and gave them first 
enlargement of spirit in their own devotions, when their souls were 
lifted up to God and they closed with him in nearness ; He then lifted 
them up to pray in a tongue which the apostle Paul says he did more 
than they all. ... I say as it was with Paul at the proper time, at the 
fit time, namely, in their private devotions, when they were rapt up near- 
est to God, the Spirit took them and made them speak in a tongue, some- 
times singing in a tongue, sometimes speaking words in a tongue ; and 
by degrees, according as they sought more and more unto God, this 
gift was perfected until they were moved to speak in a tongue, even in 
the presence of others. But while it was in this stage I suffered it not 
in the church, acting according to the canon of the apostle ; and even 
in private, in my own presence, I permitted it not ; but I heard that it 
had been done. I would not have rebuked it, I would have sympa- 
thized tenderly with the person who was carried in the Spirit and lifted 
up ; but in the church I would not have permitted it. Then, in pro- 
cess of time, perhaps at the end of a fortnight, the gift perfected itself, 
so that they were made to speak in a tongue and to prophesy : that is, 
to set forth in English words for exhortation, for edification, and com- 
fort, for that is the proper definition of prophesying, as was testified by 
one of the witnesses. Now, when we had received this into the church 
in answer to our prayers, it became me, as the minister of the church, 
to try that which we had received. I say it became me, and not an- 
other, as minister of the church ; and my authority for that you will 

find in the 2nd chapter of Revelations Therefore, when the Lord 

had sent me what professed to be prophets, what we had prayed for, 
what the Lord had answered, what had the apparent signs of a prophet 
speaking with tongues and prophesying and magnifying God, — I then 
addressed myself to the task, I durst not shrink from it, of trying them, 
putting them to proof; and if I found them so, permitting them; yea, 



"trying" the spirits. 319 

giving thanks to Jesus that had heard our prayers, and sent among us 
that ordinance of prophesying which is said expressly to be for the 
edifying of the Church. 

"The first thing towards the trial was to hear them prophesy before 
myself; and so I did. The Lord, in His providence (I cannot remem- 
ber the particulars, nor do I charge my memory with them), the Lord, in 
His providence, gave me ample opportunities in private prayer-meet- 
ings (of which there were many in the congregation for this purpose 
established) of hearing the speaking with tongues and prophesying ; 
and it was so ordered by Providence that every person whom I heard 
was known to myself, so that I had the double test, — first, of private 
walk and conversation, and secondly, of hearing the things prophesied. 
... I had, then, first, the blameless walk and conversation of persons 
in full communion with the Church of Christ ; and I had, next, pri- 
vately hearing the utterances, in which I could detect nothing that was 
contrary to sound doctrine, but saw everything to be for edification, ex- 
hortation, and comfort ; and beyond these there are no outward or visi- 
ble signs to which it can be brought. 

" "Having these before me, I was still very much afraid of introduc- 
ing it to the church, and it burdened my conscience I should suppose 
for some weeks. For look you at the condition in which I was placed. 
I had sat at the head of the church praying that these gifts might be 
poured out in the church ; I believed in the Lord's faithfulness, that I 
was praying the prayer of faith, and that He had poured out the gifts on 
the Church in answer to our prayers. "Was I to disbelieve that which 
in faith I had been praying for, and which we had all been praying for ? 
When it comes, He gives me every opportunity of proving it. I put 
it to the proof, according to His own Word ; and I find, so far as I am 
able to discern honestly before God, that it is the thing written of in 
the Scriptures, and unto the faith of which we were baptized." 

Such was the process going on in the mind of Irving during 
this interesting and exciting period. 

Reasoning thus he proceeded, as he has described, to " try 
the spirits." The gifted persons were all known to himself: 
they were, to the acknowledgment of all, both believers and un- 
believers, individuals of blameless life and saintly character. 
Among them were men who, since then, have preserved the 
confidence and respect of their community for an entire lifetime ; 
and gentle and pious women, against whom it does not appear 
that even accusations of vanity or self-importance could be 
brought. Always with that prepossession in his mind, that 
these gifts were directly sent in answer to prayer, always with 
that trust in everybody round him which was his nature, and 
that unconscious glamour in his eyes, that elevated everything 
they lighted on, Irving went on to examine, and try, and prove 
the new marvel. His was not a mind judicial, impartial, able 
to confine itself to mere evidence : had it even been so, the re- 
sult might still have been the same, since the evidence which 



320 THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

was of overwhelming force with him, was of a kind totally be- 
yond the range of ordinary human testimony. Of all men in 
the world, perhaps this man, with his inalienable poetic privilege 
of conferring dignity and grandeur upon everything which in- 
terested him deeply, with his perfect trust in other men, and 
tender sympathy with all genuine emotion, was least qualified 
to institute the searching and severe investigation which the 
case demanded ; and when it is remembered how forlorn he 
stood — in the Church, but scarcely of it ; deprived of the sup- 
port for which his spirit longed ; his heart aching with pangs 
of disappointment and indignation to see that which he held for 
the divinest of truths everywhere denied and rejected — the dis- 
abilities of nature grow strong with every additional touch of 
circumstance. I cannot pretend to believe that he was capable 
of taking the calm position of a judge at this deeply important 
crisis : but I do not doubt for a moment that he entirely believed 
in his own impartiality, and made, notwithstanding his prepos- 
session, the most conscientious balance of fact and argument ; 
and it is evident that he proceeded with a care and caution 
scarcely to be expected from him. For weeks he hesitated to 
suffer the utterances in his church, even in the morning meet- 
ings, where the audience were those who had joined with him in 
supplication for this very gift. And it is not till the end of 
October that he bursts forth into the following triumphant 
thanksgiving, conveyed in a letter — or rather in what seems to 
have been the outer enclosure of a letter, doubtless from his wife 
or her sister to the anxious household at home — to Dr Martin: — 

" 26th October, 1831. 
" My dear Father, — Thanks should be returned in all the churches 
for the work which the Lord has done and is doing amongst us. He 
has raised up the order of prophets amongst us, who, being filled with 
the Holy Ghost, do speak with tongues and prophesy, I have no doubt 
of this ; and I believe that if the ministers of the Church will be faith- 
ful to preach the truth, as the Lord hath enabled me to be, God will 
seal it in like manner with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. ' Have ye 
received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? ' is a question which may 
be put to every Church in Christendom ; and for every Church may be 
answered as the Ephesians answered Paul, Acts xix. I desire you to 
rejoice exceedingly, although it may be the means, if God prevent not, 
of creating great confusion in the bosom of my dear flock. Tor as pro- 
phesying is for the edifying of the Church, the Holy Ghost will require 
that His voice shall be heard when c the brethren are come together into 
one place ; ' and this, I fear, will not be endured by many. But the 
Lord's will be done. I must forsake all for Him. I five by faith daily, 
for I daily look for His appearing. . . . Farewell ! 

" Your dutiful and affectionate son, 

"Edwd Irving." 



INEVITABLE SEPARATION. 821 

This affecting and solemn, yet exultant statement, proves 
how truly Irving foresaw all that was before him. Up to this 
time, all external assaults had been softened to him by the 
warm and close circle of friends who stood up around to as- 
sure him of constant sympathy and unfailing support. The 
unanimous and spontaneous declaration by which his Session 
expressed their perfect concurrence in his views, which he had 
published with affectionate pride in the Morning Watch, and 
of which he declares that he " had no hand whatever in origin- 
ating, nor yet in penning this document, which came forth 
spontaneously from the hearts and minds of those honest and 
honourable men whose names it bears," is dated only in De- 
cember of the previous year. He describes his supporters in 
March, 1831, as "those who have, with one only exception, 
been with me from the beginning ; who for many years have, 
publicly and privately, had every opportunity of knowing 
my doctrine thoroughly." They were all dear to him for 
many a good work done together, and sorrowful hour shared 
side by side ; some of them were his " spiritual sons ; " some 
his close and dear companions. He foresaw, looking stead- 
fastly forward into that gloom which he was about to enter, 
that now, at last, this bond of loyal love was to be broken, this 
last guard dispersed from about his heart. He saw it with 
anguish and prophetic desolation, his last link to the old world 
of hereditary faith and dutiful affection. But though his heart 
broke, he could not choose. The warning and reproving voices 
which interrupted his prayers and exhortations in private meet- 
ings, had by this time risen to their full mastery over the heart 
which, entirely believing that they came from Grod, had no 
choice left but to obey them. Those prophets told him, in 
mournful outbursts, that he was restraining the Spirit of God. 
It was a reproach not to be borne by one who held his Grod in 
such true, filial, personal love as few can realize, much less ex- 
perience. Touched by the thought of that terrible possibility, 
he removed the first barriers. 

" Next morning," he says, u I went to the church, and after praying, 
I rose up and said in the midst of them all, ' I cannot be a party in hin- 
dering that which I believe to be the voice of the Holy Ghost from be- 
ing heard in the church. I feel that I have too long deferred, and I now 
pray you to give audience while I read out of the Scriptures, as my 
authority, the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning the 

prophets. I then read these passages, 1 Cor. xiv. 23 Therefore. 

reading these two passages in the hearing of the people, I said, ' Now I 
stand here before you (it was at our morning meeting, and after my 
conscience had been burdened with it for some weeks), and I cannot 

21 ' 



322 PROBATION. 

longer forbid, but do, on the other hand, in the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Head of the Church, permit, at this meeting of the Church, 
that every one who has received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and is 
moved by the Holy Ghost, shall have liberty to speak/ and I pointed to 
those whom I had heard in private. It pleased the Lord, at that very 

meeting, to sanction it by His approval Now, observe, I took to 

myself, according to the commandment of Jesus, the privilege and re- 
sponsibility of trying the prophets in private, before permitting them to 
speak in the Church. I then gave the Church an opportunity of fulfil- 
ling its duty ; for beyond question, it belongeth to every man to try the 
spirits ; it belongeth not to the pastor alone, it belongeth to every man to 

do it It was my duty, therefore, in obedience to the Lord Jesus 

Christ, who ruleth over all Churches, and without which a Church is 
nothing but a synagogue of Satan ; it belonged to me, as the servant of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, having tried them, to put them forth to the peo- 
ple, that they might be tried by them. I put them forth at the morn- 
ing exercise of the Church ; and I did, from the pulpit, make known to 
the people, in prayer and in preaching, and in all ways, and invited the 
people to come and to witness for themselves." 

This process of " probation,' ' as the preacher, with solemn 
stateliness, names the second interval, lasted for several weeks. 
It is not difficult to imagine what during this time must have 
been the state of the agitated congregation, in which, already, 
all the dreaded symptoms of resistance and separation were be- 
coming visible. Aware, as entire London was shortly aware, of 
those extraordinary manifestations, the sober Scotch remnant 
looked on severely, with suspicion and fear ; anxious, above all 
things, to escape the probation thus placed in their power, and 
to ignore, as far as possible, the existence of the new influence 
which they felt they could see and hear only to condemn. Still 
steady and faithful adherents of Irving, and numbering among 
them all the oldest and most influential members of the congre- 
gation, they were prepared, for love of their leader, to wink at 
almost anything which was not authoritatively set before their 
eyes, and with troubled hearts, as men hear news from an 
enemy's camp in which are some of their dearest friends, they 
listened anxiously to the reports of what was done and said at 
those romantic matin services, in the mornings which began 
again to darken into autumn. The air was rife with tales of 
prophecy and miracle. The very newspapers were discussing 
those wonders, which could not be contradicted, however they 
might be accounted for. And the vaguer excitement outside 
rose into a climax within that church in Regent Square, where 
now, Sunday after Sunday, the preacher invited his alarmed or 
curious hearers to satisfy themselves, to prove the gifts, to 
make sure, each on his own account, what the new revelation 



EXCITEMENT IN THE CONGREGATION. 323 

was ; and where, morning after morning, in the chill day-break, 
these astonishing voices and strange bursts of utterance found 
expression. A shudder of expectation, a rising stir of alarm, of 
indignation, of resistance — mingled with remorseful love to- 
wards the devoted man who thus risked his last human strong- 
hold at the bidding of what he supposed to be the voice of Grod, 
and perhaps with a suspicious jealousy of those " gifted per- 
sons " who were almost without exception new comers, attract- 
ed to the National Scotch Church neither for its nationality 
nor its Presbyterianism, but simply for Irving' s sake — ran 
trembling through the little community. It was clear to the 
dullest eye that matters could not stand still where they were. 
They waited, perplexed, disapproving, and afraid, for what was 
next to come ; shaken in their allegiance, if never in their affec- 
tion. 

Early in November (there is some confusion about the exact 
date), matters came to a crisis. 

"I went to church," writes a Mr Pilkington* — who, for a short 
time, professed to he gifted in his own person, and afterwards changed 
his opinion, and did what he could to " expose " the mysteries in which 
he had not been able to take a part — " and was, as usual, much grati- 
fied and comforted by Mr Irving's lectures and prayers ; but I was very 
unexpectedly interrupted by the well-known voice of one of the sisters, 
who, finding she was unable to restrain herself, and respecting the re- 
gulation of the Church, rushed into the vestry, and gave vent to utter- 
ance ; whilst another, as I understood, from the same impulse, ran 
down the side aisle, and out of the church, through the principal door. 
The sudden, doleful, and unintelligible sounds, being heard by all the 
congregation, produced the utmost confusion ; the act of standing up, 
the exertion to hear, see,, and understand, by each and every one of per- 
haps 1500 or 2000 persons, created a noise which may lie easily con- 
ceived. Mr Irving begged for attention, and when order was restored, 
he explained the occurrence, which he said was not new, except in the 
congregation, where he had been for some time considering the pro- 
priety of introducing it ; but though satisfied of the correctness of such 
a measure, he was afraid of dispersing the flock ; nevertheless, as it was 
now brought forward by God's will, he felt it his duty to submit. He 

* The statements of this gentleman, and another still more important de- 
serter from the prophetical ranks, Mr Baxter of Doncaster, are extremely in- 
teresting — that of the latter, in particular, called A Narrative of Facts, and 
intended to prove that the whole matter was a delusion, is in reality by far 
the strongest evidence in favour of the truth and genuine character of these 
spiritual manifestations which I have met with. After reading such a narra- 
tive, it is impossible to dream of trickery, and very difficult to believe in 
mere delusion ; although the sole object of the writer, in the extraordinary 
and touching tale, is to show that he had deceived himself, and was no pro- 
phet. 



324 COMMOTION AT THE EVENING SERVICE. 

then said he would change the discourse intended for the day, and ex- 
pound the 14th chapter of Corinthians, in order to elucidate what had 
just happened. The sister was now returning from the vestry to her 
seat, and Mr Irving, observing her from the pulpit, said, in an affection- 
ate tone, ' Console yourself, sister ! console yourself ! ' He then pro- 
ceeded with his discourse." 

After this, the congregation separated, full of excitement, 
as was natural. And the one notable figure which appears in 
the midst of that confused and agitated assembly, withdrew to 
domestic quiet, to prayer or visitation of the sick, according to 
the previously recorded habits of his simple and spotless life. 
"While the November day darkened over him in those prayers 
and meditations through which thrilled hopes of immediate 
communication with heaven almost too much for the human 
heart, which, all aflame with love and genius as it was, was not 
the heart of an ecstatic, the rumour of this new thing ran 
through the wondering world around him. In the evening an 
excited and almost riotous crowd rushed into the church 
where such an astonishing novelty and sensation was in their 
power. The tumultuous scene which followed is thus described 
by Mrs Hamilton : — 

" In the evening there was a tremendous crowd. The galleries were 
fearfully full ; and from the commencement of the service there was an 
evident uproariousness, considering the place, about the doors, men's 
voices continually mingling with the singing and the praying in most 
indecent confusion. Mr Irving had nearly finished his discourse, when 
another of the ladies spoke. The people heard for a few minutes with 
quietness comparatively. But on a sudden, a number of the fellows in 
the gallery began to hiss, and then some cried ' Silence ! ' and some one 
thing, and some another, until the congregation, except such as had firm 
faith in God, were in a state of extreme commotion. Some of these 
fellows (who, from putting all the circumstances together, it afterwards 
appeared were a gang of pickpockets come to make a row) shut the gallery 
doors, which I think was providential — for had any one rushed and fallen, 
many lives might have been lost, the crowd was so great. The awful 
scene of Kirkcaldy church * was before my eyes, and I dare say before 
Mr Irving's. He immediately rose and said, ' Let us pray,' which he 
did, using chiefly the words, ' Oh, Lord, still the tumult of the people,' 
over and over again in an unfaltering voice. This kept those in the pews 
in peace, none attempted to move, and certainly the Lord did still the 
people. We then sang, and before pronouncing the blessing, Mr Irving 
intimated that henceforward there would be morning service on the 
Sunday, when those persons would exercise their gifts, for that he would 
not subject the congregation to a repetition of the scene they had wit- 
nessed. He said he had been afraid of life, and that which was so pre- 

* The falling of the gallery there in consequence of the extreme crowd to 
hear Irving in June, 1828. 



COMMENTS OF THE PRESS. 325 

cious he would not again risk, and more to a like effect. A party still 
attempted to keep possession of the church. One man close to me at- 
tempted to speak. Some called, ' Hear ! hear ! ' others, ' Down ! down ! ' 
The whole scene reminded one of Paul at Ephesus. It was very difficult 
to get the people to go ; but by God's blessing it was accomplished. The 
Lord be praised ! We were in peril, great peril. But not a hair of the 
head of any one suffered." 

The following version of the same occurrence, describing it 
from an outside and entirely different point of view, appears in 
the Times of the 19th November, extracted from the World. 
It is headed " Disturbance at the National Scotch Church," 
and is curious as showing the state of contemporary feeling out 
of doors : — 

" On Sunday, the Rev. Edward Irving delivered two sermons on the 
extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, on each of which occasions the congre- 
gation was disturbed by individuals pretending to the miraculous gift of 
tongues. During the sermon in the morning;, a lady (a Miss Hall) thus 
singularly endowed was compelled to retire into the vestry, where she 
was unable, as she herself says, to restrain herself, and spoke for some 
time in the unknown tongue to the great surprise of the congregation, 
who did not seem prepared for the exhibition. The reverend gentleman 
resumed the subject in the evening, by discoursing from, or rather ex- 
pounding, the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Towards the conclusion 
of the exposition, he took occasion to allude to the circumstance of the 
morning, and expressed his doubts whether he had done right in restrain- 
ing the exercise of the gift in the church itself, and compelling the lady 
to retire to the vestry. At this moment, a gentleman in the gallery, a 
Mr Taplin, who keeps an academy in Castle Street, Holborn, rose from 
his seat, and commenced a violent harangue in the unknown tongue. 
The confusion occasioned was extreme. The whole congregation rose 
from their seats in affright, several ladies screamed aloud, and others 
rushed to the doors. Some supposed that the building was in danger, 
and that there had either been a murder or an attempt to murder some 
person in the gallery ; insomuch that one gentleman actually called out 
to the pew-openers and beadle to stop him, and not to let him escape. 
On both occasions the church was extremely crowded, particularly in 
the evening, and it would be impossible to describe the confusion pro- 
duced by this display of fanaticism. There was, indeed, in the strange 
unearthly sound and extraordinary power of voice, enough to appal the 
heart of the most stout-hearted. A great part of the congregation 
standing upon the seats to ascertain the cause of the alarm, while the 
reverend gentleman, standing with arms extended, and occasionally 
beckoning them to silence, formed a scene which partook as much of the 
ridiculous as the sublime. No attempt was made to stop the individual, 
and after two or three minutes he became exhausted, and sat down, and 
then the reverend gentleman concluded the service. Many were so 
alarmed, and others so disgusted, that they did not return again into 
the church, and discussed the propriety of the reverend gentleman suf- 



326 INCREASE TO THE CHURCH. 

fering the exhibition ; and altogether a sensation was produced which 
will not be soon forgotten by those who were present." 

In a letter to Mr Macdonald, Irving himself gives an account 
of a very similar scene. There is, however, great confusion of 
dates ; some of the witnesses identify the decisive day as the 
16th, some as the 30th of October, while Mrs Hamilton's letter 
fixes it as the 13th of November. The precise day, however, 
is unimportant ; many such scenes of agitation and tumult 
must have disturbed the church. In the general features 
of the prevailing excitement all the accounts concur. Irving's 
own record is as follows : — 

" London, 7th November, 1831. 

"• My dear Friend, — May the Lord keep yon in a continual near- 
ness to Him, going forward and not going backward. For it is a sore 
and a sifting time wherein there is no safety, but will be destruction to 
every one who is not abiding in Christ and in Him only. Yesterday was 
our communion, and the Lord gave me great increase to my church, 
nearly a hundred during the half year ; but some have drawn back, 
offended in the word of the Spirit in the mouth of the prophets, which, 
in obedience to the Lord's commandment, I have permitted, ' when the 
Church is gathered together into one place,' on all occasions. Now, it 
is remarked that in all instances the Spirit hath permitted the service 
to be concluded, and the blessing pronounced, before the manifestation. 
And it hath always been a witness of the Holy Ghost with us, the min- 
isters. Last night David Brown preached a mighty sermon on the 91st 
Psalm, bearing much allusion to the cholera ; and twice over did the 
Spirit speak forth, once in confirmation, generally, that it was the judg- 
ment of God, once, in particular, to the scoffers. I was seated in the 
great chair, and was enabled by my single voice to preserve order among, 
I dare say, 3000 people, and to exhort them, as Peter did at Pentecost, 
and commend them to the Lord. And they all parted in peace. Most 
of the Session dislike all this ; and had I not been firm and resolved to 
go out myself sooner, the voice of the Holy Ghost would, ere this, have 
been put down by one means or another. In two instances the Spirit hath 
confirmed the Word when I was expounding the Scriptures. Our 
morning worship is attended by nearly 1000 persons, and the order of it 
is beautiful. I seek the blessing of God, then we sing. Mr Brown or 
I read a chapter, and the Spirit confirms our interpretations, or adds and 
exhorts in few words, without interruption, but with great strengthen- 
ing ; then one of us, or the elders, or the brethren, prays, and then I 
fulfil the part of the pastor or angel of the church with short instructions, 
waiting at the intervals for the Spirit to speak, which He does sometimes 
by one, sometimes by two, and sometimes by three, — which I apply, and 
break down, and make the best use of for edifying of the flock and con- 
vincing the gainsayers ; with short prayers as occasion serveth ; and I 
conclude with prayer, and with the doxology, and the blessing. Every 
Wednesday night I am preaching to thousands c the Baptism with ihe 



CHARACTER OF THE TONGUES. 327 

Holy Ghost,' and the Lord is mightily with us. But many adversaries. 
Oh, pray diligently that Satan may not be able to put this light out ! . . . 
Farewell ! May the Lord have you in His holy keeping ! 

" Your faithful friend and brother, 

" Ed wd Irving. 
" The Cairds are now with us again." 

The singular fact herein recorded of an attendance of a 
thousand people at the morning service, is perhaps almost as 
wonderful as any other particular of this exciting time. A 
concourse of a thousand people, drawn together at half-past 
six, in those black, wintry mornings, with the November fogs 
rolling up from the unseen river and murky heart of the city — 
and day but faintly breaking through the yellow, suffocating 
vapours when the assembly dispersed — is a prodigy such as 
perhaps London never saw before, nor is likely to see again. 
" The Cairds " mentioned in the postscript of this letter were 
Mary Campbell, the earliest gifted and miraculously healed, 
and her husband, now apparently wandering from house to 
house, and church to church, to enlighten the minds or satisfy 
the curiosity, as the case might be, of those who were chiefly 
interested in the new dispensation. 

This irrevocable step having been taken into the new 
world — confused, gloomy, and tumultuous, yet radiated with 
momentary and oft-recurring lights, almost too brilliant and 
rapturous for the health and reason of a wholesome human 
creature — which now lay before Irving, it is perhaps necessary 
to describe, so far as that is practicable to a generation which 
has forgotten them, what those unknown tongues were which 
disturbed the composure of the world thirty years ago. The 
newspaper report quoted above would lead the reader to imagine 
that the unknown tongue alone was the sum of the utterances 
given on the occasion referred to in the National Scotch Church. 
This, however, is proved not to have been the case, by Irving's 
own declaration that so long as the tongue was unaccompanied 
hj intelligible speech, he " suffered it not in the Church, acting 
according to the canon of the Apostle ; and even in private, 
in my own presence, I permitted it not." The actual utterances, 
as they were thus introduced in the full congregation, were 
short exhortations, warnings, or commands, in English, preceded 
by some sentences or exclamations in the tongue, which was 
not the primary message, being unintelligible, but only the sign 
of inspiration — so that a " violent harangue in the tongue " was 
an untrue and ridiculous statement. The tongue itself was 
supposed by Mary Campbell, who was the first to exercise it, 
and apparently by all who believed in the reality of the gift at 



828 DESCRIBED BY IRVING. 

that time, to be in truth a language which, under similar cir- 
cumstances to those which proved at once the miraculous use of 
the tongues given at Pentecost, would have been similarly 
recognized. Mary Campbell herself expressed her conviction 
that the tongue given to her was that of the Pelew Islands, 
which, indeed, was a safe statement, and little likely to be 
authoritatively disputed : while some other conjectures pointed 
to the Turkish and Chinese languages as those thus miracu- 
lously bestowed. Since then opinion seems to have changed, 
even among devout believers in these wonderful phenomena ; 
the hypothesis of actual languages conferred seems to have 
given way to that of a supernatural sign and attestation of the 
intelligible prophecy, which, indeed, the Pentecostal experience 
apart, might very well be argued from St Paul's remarks upon 
this primitive gift. The character of the sound itself has per- 
haps received as many different descriptions as there are persons 
who have heard it. To some, the ecstatic exclamations, with 
their rolling syllables and mighty voice, were imposing and 
awful ; to others it was merely gibberish shouted from stentorian 
lungs ; to others an uneasy wonder, which it was a relief to find 
passing into English, even though the height and strain of sound 
was undiminished.. One witness speaks of it as " bursting 
forth," and that from the lips of a woman, " with an astonish- 
ing and terrible crash ; " another (Mr Baxter), in his singular 
narrative, describes how, when " the power" fell suddenly upon 
himself, then all alone at his devotions, " the utterance was so 
loud that I put my handkerchief to my mouth to stop the 
sound, that I might not alarm the house ; " while Irving himself 
describes it with all his usual splendour of diction as follows : — 

" The whole utterance, from the beginning to the ending of it, 
is with a power, and strength, and fulness, and sometimes rapidity of 
voice, altogether different from that of the person's ordinary utterance 
in any mood ; and I would say, both in its form and in its effects upon 
a simple mind, quite supernatural. There is a power in the voice to 
thrill the heart and overawe the spirit after a manner which I have 
never felt. There is a march, and a majesty, and a sustained grandeur 
in the voice, especially of those who prophesy, which I have never heard 
even a resemblance to, except now and then in the sublimest and most 
impassioned moods of Mrs Siddons and Miss O'Neil. It is a mere 
abandonment of all truth to call it screaming or crying ; it is the most 
majestic and divine utterance which I have ever heard, some parts of 
which I never heard equalled, and no part of it surpassed, by the finest 
execution of genius and art exhibited at the oratorios in the concerts of 
ancient music. And when the speech utters itself in the way of a psalm 
or spiritual song, it is the likest to some of the most simple and ancient 
chants in the cathedral service, insomuch that I have been often led to 



THE UTTERANCES IN ENGLISH. 329 

think that those chants, of which some can be traced up as high as the 
days of Ambrose, are recollections and transmissions of the inspired ut- 
terances in the primitive Church. Most frequently the silence is broken 
by utterance in a tongue, and this continues for a longer or a shorter 
period, sometimes occupying only a few words, as it were filling the 
first gust of sound ; sometimes extending to five minutes, or even more, 
of earnest and deeply-felt discourse, with which the heart and soul of 
the speaker is manifestly much moved to tears, and sighs, and unutterable 
groanings, to joy, and mirth, and exultation, and even laughter of the 
heart. So far from being unmeaning gibberish, as the thoughtless and 
heedless sons of Belial have said, it is regularly -formed, well-propor- 
tioned, deeply-felt discourse, which evidently wanteth only the ear of 
him whose native tongue it is, to make it a very masterpiece of powerful 
speech." 

This lofty representation, if too elevated to express the po- 
pular opinion, is yet confirmed by the mass of testimony which 
represents the Tongue as something awful and impressive. The 
utterances in English are within the range of a less elevated 
faith, being at least comprehensible, and open to the test of 
internal evidence. I quote several of these manifestations in 
the after-part of this history, for the satisfaction of my readers. 
To my own mind they contain no evidence of supernatural, and 
specially of divine origin. That the eifect of their passionate 
cadences and wild rapture of prophetical repetition may have 
been overwhelming, I do not doubt ; and most of the speakers 
seem to have been entirely above suspicion ; but the thought 
that " there needs no ghost come from the grave to tell us this" 
much less a new and special revelation from heaven, will recur 
infallibly in face of these utterances. I can neither explain nor 
account for phenomena so extraordinary ; and, fortunately, am 
not called upon to do either. The fact and fashion of their 
existence, and the wonderful influence they exercised over the 
subject of this history, are all I have to do with. The reader 
will find in the remarkable narrative, intended by Mr Baxter 
to dissipate the delusion, more subtle and striking evidence of 
a real something in the movement than is given either by the 
recorded utterances themselves, or any plea for them that I have 
heard of. And at the same time it is certain that Irving faith- 
fully followed them through every kind of anguish and martyr- 
dom ; that by their sole inspiration a body, not inconsiderable 
either in numbers or influence, has been organized and estab- 
lished in being; and that after a lapse of thirty years, they still 
continue to regulate the destinies of that oft-disappointed but 
patient Church. 

In that autumnal season of '31, in itself a time of trouble 
and perplexity, of political agitation at home and apprehensions 



330 VIRTUOUS INDIGNATION. 

abroad, and when the modern plague, cholera, doubly dreaded 
because unknown, yet not more dreaded than, as the event 
proved, it deserved to be, trembled over the popular mind and 
imagination, filling them with all the varieties of real and fanciful 
terror, the newspapers still found time to enter into this newest 
wonder. With natural zest they seized again upon the well- 
known name, so often discussed, which was now placed in a 
position to call forth any amount of criticism and ridicule. 
Very shortly after the introduction of the " prophesying " into 
the Sunday meetings of the church in Eegent Square, the Times 
put forth very intelligible hints that the church, though built 
for the Rev. Edward Irving, was only his so long as he con- 
formed himself to the laws of the Church of Scotland ; showing 
an interest in the cause of orthodoxy, and Scotch orthodoxy to 
boot, somewhat rare with that cosmopolitan journal. " The 
great body of Mr Irving' s adherents would probably have re- 
mained by him if, in his headlong course of enthusiasm, he could 
have found a resting-place. They might pardon his nonsense 
about the time and circumstances of the millennium. They 
might smile at unintelligible disquisitions about ' heads ' and 
'horns,' and 'trumpets,' and 'candlesticks,' and 'white and 
black horses,' in Revelations. These things might offend the 
judgment, but did not affect the nerves. But have we the 
same excuse for the recent exhibitions with which the metro- 
polis has been scandalized ?" says the virtuous Times. "Are 
we to listen to the screaming of hysterical women, and the 
ravings of frantic men ? Is bawling to be added to absurdity, 
and the disturber of a congregation to escape the police and 
treadmill, because the person who occupies the pulpit vouches 
for his inspiration ? " Much virtuous indignation, indeed, was 
expended on all sides on this fertile and inviting subject. The 
Record takes up the story where the Times leaves it, and nar- 
rates the drama of the second Sunday. Never was congrega- 
tion of Scotch Presbyterians, lost in the mass of a vast com- 
munity, which never more than half comprehends, and is seldom 
more than half respectful of Presbyterianism, so followed by 
the observation of the world, so watched and noted. In the 
mean time, the mystic world within concentrated more and 
more around the only man who was to bear the brunt, he 
whom the outside world accused of endless vagaries, whom his 
very friends declared to be seeking notoriety at any cost, and 
from whose side already the companions of his life were drop- 
ping off in sad but inevitable estrangement ; yet who stood in 
that mystic circle, in the depths of his noble simplicity and 
humbleness, the one predestined martyr who was to die for 



WITHDRAWS THE LAST RESTRAINT. 331 

the reality of gifts which he did not share. "With criticisms 
and censures of every kind going on around, he proceeded, 
rapt in the fervour of his faith, deeper and deeper into the 
spiritual mystery which he believed and hoped was now to 
dawn splendidly upon the unbelieving world, awakening every- 
where, amid material darkness, that sacred sense of the unseen 
and the Divine which had always existed in his own lofty spirit, 
and over the failure and lack of which he had sighed so deeply 
and so long in vain. 

The current, when it had once broken forth, was much too 
strong to be checked. The tumult and commotion of the 
evening service described by Mrs Hamilton, had drawn from 
Irving's lips a hasty undertaking not to expose his congregation 
again to the danger and profanation of such scenes. Before 
the next Sunday, however, he bad risen above such consider- 
ations. Daily stimulated, warned, and reproved by the pro- 
phets who surrounded him, he gradually gave up his lingering 
tenderness of reluctance to disperse his people, and even sacri- 
ficed his devout regard (always so strong in him — the reverence 
more of a High Anglican than an iconoclastic Presbyterian) 
for the sanctities of the house of Grod. Indeed, believing fer- 
vently, as he did, that these utterances were the voice of Grod, 
one does not see how he could have done otherwise. The 
Record relates, on the 21st November, its great surprise to 
hear that after " the positive declaration of the Rev. Edward 
Irving to his church and congregation, on the 13th instant, 
that he should forbid for the future the exercise of the unknown 
tongues daring the usual Sabbath services, Mr Irving stated 
yesterday morning that he committed an error by so doing. 
He stated that if it pleased the Lord to speak by His messen- 
gers, he begged them to listen with devout attention. In a 
few seconds a female (we believe Miss Cardale) commenced in 
the unknown tongue, and then passed into the known tongue. 
She said : ' He shall reveal it ! He shall reveal it ! Tea, heed 
it ! yea, heed it ! Te are yet in the wilderness. Despise not 
his word ! despise not his word ! Not one jot or tittle shall 
pass away.' The minister then rose and called upon the 
church to bless the Lord for His voice, which they had just 
heard in the midst of the congregation." 

Notwithstanding the surprise of the 'Record, it is very appa- 
rent that, having entered upon this course, it was simply im- 
possible to pause or draw back. Had any dishonesty or 
timidity existed in Irving's breast, he might, indeed, as men of 
irresolute tempers or uncertain belief will, have so far smother- 
ed his own convictions as to refuse his consent to the prophetic 



332 IMPOSSIBILITY OF DRAWING BACK. 

utterances. But with that entire faith he had, what was the 
servant of God to do ? It was not denying a privilege even to 
the " gifted persons." It was silencing the voice of God. Yet 
even those who knew him best vexed his troubled soul with 
entreaties that he would put up again this impossible barrier, 
and debar, according to his own belief, the Holy Spirit, the 
Great Teacher, from utterance in the church. While the news- 
papers without denounced the " exhibitions," and wondered 
how he could permit them, tender domestic appeals were at 
the same time being made to him, to pause upon that road 
which evidently led to temporal loss and overthrow, and must 
make a cruel separation between his future and his past. The 
judicious "William Hamilton, his brother and friend, and per- 
petual referee, retires with a grieved heart into the country ; 
and, consulting privately with Dr Martin, describes his own 
uncertainty and desire to wait longer before either permitting 
or debarring the new utterances ; his conviction that all the 
speakers are " very holy and exemplary persons ; " the general 
anxiety and desire of the congregation to " wait patiently and 
see more distinctly the hand of God in the matter ; " and at 
the same time the inclination of " some of the trustees to en- 
force the discipline of the Church of Scotland, according to the 
provisions of the trust deed." " Mr Irving is fully persuaded, 
and hesitates not to declare, that it is the Holy Ghost speaking 
in the members of Christ, as on the day of Pentecost," writes 
this anxious and loving friend. " Edward is most conscientious 
and sincere in the matter ; and he is so thoroughly convinced 
in his own mind that it is impossible to make an impression 
upon him, or to induce that caution which the circumstances 
seem so imperatively to demand." When fortified with the 
advice and arguments of Dr Martin, who was under no such 
trembling anxiety as that which influenced his son-in-law, Mr 
Hamilton proceeds to reason with his " dear brother and pas- 
tor " in a sensible and affectionate letter, dated from Tunbridge 
Wells, the 26th November, but is anticipated by a letter from 
Irving, in which already appears the first cloud of that coming 
storm which his kind and anxious relative was so desirous to 
arrest : — 

"London, 21st November, 1831. 
" My dear Brother and Sister, — I pray that the Lord may pre- 
serve you in His truth and keep you from all backsliding, for he that 
puttet'h his hand to the plough and looketh back is not fit for the king- 
dom of heaven. Draw not back, neither stand still, I beseech you, for 
your soul's salvation. Remember the exhortations of the Lord and His 
apostles to this effect : save your own souls, I beseech you. The trus- 



FIRST MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES. 333 

tees met, and I explained to them that I could not in this matter take 
any half measures, but would be faithful to God and His Word, and 
would immediately proceed to set the ordinance of prophesying in order, 
in the meetings of the church ; and because I see prophesying with 
tongues is as much for the assembling and snaring of the hypocrite (Isa. 
xxviii. 13, 14) as for the refreshing of the saints,, I was resolved that 
whatever class of people might come to the church at any meeting, I 
would not prevent the Lord from speaking then and there what it pleas- 
ed Him to speak ; and I pointed their attention to that part of the trust- 
deed which gave into my hand the regulation of everything connected 
with the public worship of God in the house over which they were the 
trustees. And after a good deal of conversation, conducted in a very 
friendly, and I hope, Christian spirit, I came away and left them to de- 
liberate. They adjourned the meeting till Tuesday night, when I do 
not intend to be present ; but through Mr Virtue have intimated that 
if they should think of taking any step, they would previously appoint 
a conference with me, and one or two who think with me, that if possible 
we might adjust the matter without a litigation ; and if it be necessary, 
that it may be gone into with a simple desire of ascertaining the question 
whether, in anything I have done, I have violated the trust-deed. Per- 
haps I may write this by letter to them ; I shall think of it. 

" Yesterday we had peace and much edification. I began by reading 
passages in 1 Cor. xiv., and then ordering it so, that after the chapter 
and the sermon there should be a pause, to hear whether the Holy 
Spirit was minded to speak to us. He spake by Miss E. Caidale after 
the chapter (John xvi.), exhorting us to ask, for we were still in the 
wilderness, and needed the waters of the Holy Spirit, identifying the 
river from the rock with the Holy Ghost. It was very solemn, and all 
was still attention. While singing the Psalm after, Mr Horn came up 
to the pulpit with a Bible in his hand, and asked me permission to read 
out of the Scriptures his reason for leaving the church and never enter- 
ing it more ! This I refused, and he went into the vestry, took his hat, 
and went right down the church. Oh, what a fearful thing ! Dear 
brother, I beseech you to be guarded against the workings of the flesh. 
Mr Mackenzie was the only elder left ; but the Lord was with us. This 
morning a man came to us who was delivered under the sermon from his 
sins. In the afternoon service, which I took, the Spirit sealed with His 
witness both the exposition (Mai. iii.) and the sermon (John vii. 37 — 
39). In the evening, when the church was altogether filled, we locked the 
doors and kept them locked. The people beat upon them, but I command- 
ed them to be kept shut, resolved to take the responsibility on myself, 
and I preached with much of the power and presence of God (exposi- 
tion, Mark xiii. ; sermon, Isa. xxviii. 9 — 14) ; and after all was over, I 
explained to them that though I had kept my pledge that night, I now 
solemnly withdrew it, and would permit the Spirit to speak at all times, 
waiting always at the end of the exposition and the sermon. And if I 
perish, my dear brother and sister, I perish. Let me die the death of 

the righteous, and let my latter end be like his Oh, my dear, 

my very dear friends and brethren, wait upon your Father, and keep 
close to Him in such a time as this ! My love to you would not suffer 



334 " IF I PERISH, I PERISH." 

me to be silent, though I have much to do. God have you ever in His 
holy keeping ! 

" Your faithful brother, 

" Ed wd Irving." 

So with pathetic solemnity he communicates his final decision 
to those anxious spectators, who yet cannot choose but inter- 
pose and ply him once and again with clear and sober argu- 
ments — partly supplied by the distant Scotch divine in Kirk- 
caldy Manse, who is more absolute and assured in his reasoning, 
and half disposed to be impatient of Edward's credulity — 
and partly by the unconvinced yet sympathetic soul of the 
affectionate brother, who cannot condemn the faith which he 
sees to be so firm and deeply-rooted. There is something 
profoundly touching in the situation altogether ; the anxious 
private correspondence of the disturbed relatives — their fears 
for Edward's position and influence — the troubled laying of 
their sagacious heads together to make out what arguments 
will be most likely to affect him, and how he can best be per- 
suaded or convinced for his own good ; and altogether ignor- 
ant of that affectionate conspiracy, the unconvincible heroic 
soul, without a doubt or possibility of scepticism ; no debate- 
able ground in his mind, on which reasoning and argument 
can plant their lever ; full of a glorious certainty that God has 
stooped from heaven to send communications to his adoring 
ear, and ready to undergo the loss of all things, even love, for 
that wonderful grace and privilege. For some time longer 
these two Hamiltons, his " dear brother and sister," follow 
him, doubtfully and sadly, with regrets aud tears ; but no- 
thing is to be done by all their tender arguments and appeals ; 
" Edward is so thoroughly convinced in his own mind, that it is 
impossible to make any impression upon him." They try their 
best, and fail ; they drop off after a while, like the rest, with 
hearts half broken. Months after, when William Hamilton 
reappears among the mournful handful in Regent Square, which 
Irving has left behind him, it is said among his friends that he 
looks ten years older. Comprehension and agreement may 
fail, but nothing can withdraw this brother Edward from any 
heart that has ever loved or known him — for the two words 
mean the same thing, as far as he is concerned. 

The very next day after the above letter was written, 
Irving addressed another to the trustees, setting forth fully the 
order of worship which he intended henceforward to adopt in 
the church : — 



FUTURE ORDER OF WORSHIP. 335 

" November 22nd, 1831. 

" My dear Friends, — I think it to be my duty to inform yon 
exactly concerning the order which I have established in the public 
worship of the church for taking in the ordinance of prophesying, which 
it hath pleased the Lord, in answer to our prayers, to bestow upon us. The 
Apostle Paul, in the 14th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
hath ordered, in the name and by the commandment (verse 37) of the 
Lord Jesus, that the prophets shall speak when the whole Church is 
gathered together into one place, ' two or three ' (verse 23), and hath per- 
mitted that all the prophets may prophesy one by one, that all may learn 
and all may be comforted (verses 29 — 31) ; and he hath given instruc- 
tions concerning the comely manner in which women shall prophesy in 
chapter eleven of the same Epistle. Walking by this rule, I have ap- 
pointed, for the present, that, immediately after the reading and exposi- 
tion of the Scriptures by the minister, there shall be a pause for the 
witness of the Holy Ghost by the mouth of those to whom He hath 
been given (Acts v. 32), and the same have I appointed to be done after 
the sermon. And this I intend shall have place at all the public congre- 
gations of the church, because I believe it to be according to the com- 
mandment of the blessed Lord by the mouth of the Apostle, and accord- 
ing to the practice of the Church, so long as she had prophets speaking 
by the Holy Ghost in the midst of her. 

" The Church of Scotland, at the time of the Reformation, turned 
her attention reverently to this standing order of the Church of Christ, 
and appointed a weekly exercise for prophesying or interpreting of the 
Scriptures (First Book of Discipline, chapter xii.), expressly founded 
on and ordered by the 14th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians, ' to the end that the Kirk may judge whether they be able to serve 
to God's glory and to the profit of the Kirk in the vocation of the min- 
istry or not.' At that time they had adopted the prevalent but erroneous 
notion that the office of the apostle, of the evangelist, and of the pro- 
phet, are not perpetual ; and now f have ceased in the Kirk of God, ex- 
cept when it pleased God extraordinarily for a time to stir some of 
them up again ' (Second Book of Discipline, chapter ii.). God hath now 
proved that He both can and will raise up these offices again, having 
anointed many, both amongst us and elsewhere, with the gift of pro- 
phesying after the manner foretold in Isaiah xxviii. 11, fulfilled on the 
day of Pentecost, and particularly ordered in 1 Cor. xi. and xiv. These 
persons, having been fully proved at our daily morning exercise, and 
found to speak by the Spirit of God, I have, in obedience to the Apos- 
tle^ and in the spirit of the Church of Scotland, permitted to exercise 
their gift in the congregation, according to the order laid down above, 

" Now, my dear brethren, it is well known to you that by the Word 
of God, and by the rules of all well-ordered churches, and by the trust- 
deed of our church in particular, it lies with the angel or minister of the 
church to order in all things connected with the public worship and 
service of God. For this duty I am responsible to the Great Head of 
the Church, and have felt the burden of it upon my conscience for many 
weeks past ; but consulting for the feelings of others, I have held back 
from doing that which I felt to be my duty, and most profitable for the 
great edification of the Church of Christ, over which the Lord hath set 



336 FULL STATEMENT OF HIS INTENTION. 

me. I desire to humble myself in His sight for having too long linger- 
ed to walk in the way of His express commandment ; and having at last 
obeyed Him to whom we must all answer at the great day, I beseech 
you, dearly beloved, to strengthen my hands and uphold them, as in 
times past ye have always been forward to do ; but if ye cannot see 
your way clearly to do this, I entreat you not to let or withstand, lest 
haply ye be found fighting against God. And the more, as it is express- 
ly written, in the only place where the method of prophesying in another 
tongue is mentioned, that it should be for a rest and refreshment to 
some, for a snare and stumbling unto many (Isaiah xxviii. 12, 13). Tor 
the rest, dear brethren, I need only add that, if you should see it your 
duty to take any step toward the prohibition of this (as I have heard 
that some are minded to do, which may God, for their own sake, pre- 
vent, and for the sake of all concerned), I pray that nothing may be 
done till after a friendly conference between the trustees on the one 
hand, and myself, your minister, with some friends to assist me, on the 
other ; for as we have hitherto had good Christian fellowship together, 
we will do our part by all means to preserve it to the end, without com- 
promising our truth and duty. I have done myself the satisfaction of 
sending to each one of you, dear brethren, a copy of the first part of a 
treatise on the subject of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost for your 
further information on this subject, which I beg you will accept as a 
small token of the esteem and gratitude of your faithful and affectionate 
friend and minister, 

" Edwd Irving. 

" Finally, may the Lord guide you in upright judgment, and pre- 
serve you blameless unto the day of His appearing, and then receive 
you into His glory ! Amen, and Amen ! " 

It was thus, not in anger, but in mutual affection and re- 
gret, that the first parallels of this warfare were opened ; and 
strangely enough, of all who argued, remonstrated, or pleaded 
with Irving, in public or private, his Scotch father-in-law, 
strong in all ecclesiastical proprieties, as it was natural he 
should be, and often disposed to be impatient of Edward's faith, 
seems to have been the only man who recognized and acknow- 
ledged that, believing as Irving did, no other course was prac- 
ticable to him. The suppression of the manifestations in public 
appears to have been all that the trustees ever wanted ; and 
that they hoped their minister might be urged or persuaded 
into, if they still left him the freedom of his morning services. 
Dr Martin alone perceived that it was impossible for Irving to 
shut out, what he took for the voice of God, from any place 
where he was or had authority. 

The treatise upon Baptism with the Holy Ghost is one of 
the brief and few results of his literary labours during this 
agitating year ; this — the tract, published earlier in the year, 



ORIGINAL STANDARDS OF THE CHURCH. 337 

on Christ's Holiness in Flesh, and the reprint of the Ancient 
Confessions of Faith and JBooJcs of Discipline of the Church of 
Scotland, being, with the exception of articles in the Morning 
Watch, his sole publications in 1831. The latter is especially 
remarkable, as appearing at such a moment. He had apparently- 
cherished the idea for years ; but only now, in the midst of his 
own troubles, grieved to the heart to see his beloved mother- 
Church falling, as he believed, so far from her ancient height 
of perfection, he confronts her once more, indignant yet tender, 
with these, the primitive rules of her faith and practice, in his 
hand. A rapid historical sketch of primitive Scotch Christianity 
in its romantic period, the Culdee age of gold, which he evi- 
dently intended, had time permitted, to carry out through the 
less obscure chronicles of the Reformation, occupies the first 
part of the book. But the real preface, to which attaches all 
the human and individual interest always conveyed by Irving's 
prefaces, contains an examination of those ancient documents, 
in which he — who had already been denounced as a heretic, 
and who was on the eve of being cast out from his church for 
departing from the rules of the Church of Scotland — enthu- 
siastically adopts the primary standards of that very Church of 
Scotland as the confession of his faith, and admiringly sets forth 
the beauty and perfectness of those entirely national statements 
of belief, I do not know if Irving was the first to fall back with 
a sensation of relief and expansion from the cruel logic of the 
"Westminster Confession to the earlier Scottish creed, — the 
simple, manful, uncontroversial declaration of the faith that 
was in them, which the first Reformers gave, and which, I 
believe, many of their present descendants would gladly and 
thankfully see replaced, instead of the elaborate production of 
the "Westminster Puritans ; but it was he who introduced 
them anew to the notice of his brethren. 

" I prefer beyond all measure," says Irving, " the labours of our 
Reformers, which took so many years to complete them ; and grieve 
exceedingly that they should have been virtually supplanted and buried 
out of sight by the act of one General Assembly in a factious time con- 
vened. . . . While I say I lament this other instance of Scottish haste, 
I am far from disavowing the Westminster Confession, to which I 
have set my hand, or even disallowing it as an excellent composition 
upon the whole. But for many reasons I greatly postpone it to our 
original standards. . . The truth is that the Church of Scotland was 
working with head and hand to proselytize or to beat England into the 
Presbyterian form of Church government, and therefore adopted these 
books of the English Presbyterians, thinking there could be no unity 
without uniformity, a cruel mistake, which was woefully retaliated upon 
them in the reigns of the second Charles and the second James. It is 

22 



338 PAPERS IN THE 

not with any particular expressions or doctrines of the Westminster 
Confession that I find fault, but with the general structure of it. It is 
really an imposition upon a man's conscience to ask him to subscribe 
such a minute document ; it is also a call upon his previous knowledge 
of ecclesiastical controversy, which very few can honestly answer ; and 
being digested on a systematic principle, it is rather an exact code of 
doctrine than the declaration of a person's faith in a personal God, Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. I find it to be a great snare to tender con- 
sciences — a great trial to honest men — insomuch that, as a pastor, I 
have often been greatly perplexed to reconcile men, both elders and 
preachers, to the subscription of it. They seem to feel that it is rather 
an instrument for catching dishonest, than a rule for guiding honest 
people ; that it presupposeth men knavish, and prepareth gyves upon 
their legs, and shackles for their hands. . . In one word, there is a great 
deal too much of it for rightly serving the ends of a confession. . . . 
There is no use for hard-fasting men at such a rate, although it be very 
necessary to exhibit a distinct standard of faith for them to rally un- 

Throughout the year the Morning Watch carried on, 
without intermission, the two great controversies in which 
Irving was engaged. Papers on the Humanity of our Lord, 
which, by over-exposition and explanation, confuse and profane 
the question, appeared in every number, along with inquiries 
into the new spiritual gifts, some of which bear the mark of 
Irving's own hand — and accounts of miraculous cures, so 
detailed and minute that it is difficult not to think of the 
parallel cases cited by Professor Holloway and other vendors 
of miraculous universal medicine. Irving's series upon Old 
Testament Prophecies fulfilled in the New, runs through the 
entire volume ; where, too, there appears now and then a 
human, personal glimpse of him in the affectionate testimony 
of a friend ; as, for example, when the Morning Watch, taking 
part, for some wonderful occasion, with the Record, begs its ad- 
herents to support that paper, irrespective of " its conduct on 
another subject." " We exhort all such to overlook the 
trespass against a brother, dear as he deservedly is to all who 
know him," says the prophetical journal, confident that nobody 
can mistake whom it means, and speaking with a warmth of 
personal feeling unknown to the abstract dignity of the Press. 
" There is no breast on earth more ready to pardon than he 
who has most reason to complain, or who would more regret 
that personal feelings towards him should impede the promul- 
gation of such sentiments as those of which we have shown the 
Record to be now the advocate." Such a reference to an in- 
dividual, assumed to be so entirely well-known and held 
in such affectionate regard by an audience considerable 









THE TRUSTEES. 339 

enough to keep a quarterly review afloat, is, perhaps, unique in 
literature. 

As the days darkened, and the end of the year approached, 
matters became more and more hopeless in the little world of 
Begent Square, where still the daily matins gathered crowds of 
curious worshippers, and where, at almost every service, the 
voices of the prophets were heard, filling up the pauses which 
the preacher had appointed for the purpose, and crowding 
with an excited and miscellaneous auditory the church which 
was to have been a national rallying point and centre of 
Christian influence. Such hopes were over now. The inspired 
circle which surrounded Irving was not of the nation which 
gave his church its name ; those who were of that race were 
deserting him day by day. It was no longer to a national in- 
fluence, but to a remnant saved from all nations, a peculiar 
people, that his earnest eyes were turned. The trustees of the 
church, to whom he had addressed his letter concerning the new 
order of worship, continued, while firmly opposed to that novel 
system, to hope that something might yet be done by reason 
and argument to change his mind. They met again in De- 
cember, and had a solemn conference with Irving, who was ac- 
companied by Mr Gardale (a gentleman whose wife and sister 
were both among the gifted persons) as his legal adviser, and 
by Mr Mackenzie, the only one of his elders who believed with 
him. Mr Hamilton reports, for the information of Dr Martin, 
that " a compromise was attempted by some of the trustees, 
who strongly urged Edward to prohibit the gifted persons from 
speaking on the Sabbath, leaving it to him to make such regu- 
lations regarding the weekly services as he might think proper." 
When this proved vain, the trustees, " being exceedingly un- 
willing, from their great reverence and respect for Edward, to 
push matters to extremes, resolved again to adjourn, and to 
leave it to the Session, at their meeting on Monday, to recon- 
sider the subject." " The Session" — the same Session which, 
not a year ago, came forward spontaneously and as one man to 
take up their share of their leader's burdens, and declare their 
perfect concurrence with him — " accordingly entered into a 
very lengthened discussion, during which quotations were made 
from the Books of Discipline and the Acts of the Assembly to 
show the inconsistency of the present proceedings with the 

discipline of the Church An intimation was given, 

which I was pained at, that an appeal would be made to the 
Presbytery of London, according to the provision of the trust- 
deed. This Edward most earnestly deprecated, and begged that 
he might not be carried before a body who are so inimical to 



340 THE KIRK-SESSION. 

him." Mr Hamilton proceeds to confide to his father-in-law 
his own melancholy forebodings for everybody and everything 
concerned ; his fears of Irving's " usefulness as a minister 
being lamentably curtailed," of the scattering of the congrega- 
tion, and " ruin" of the church, which had been, from the lay- 
ing of its earliest stone, an object dear to the heart of the 
zealous Scotch elder, who now was about to see all his own 
laborious efforts, and those of his friends, comparatively lost. 
How such repeated entreaties, urged upon him with real love 
by his most faithful and familiar friends, must have wrung the 
heart of Irving, always so open to proofs of affection, may easily 
be imagined. He stood fast through the whole, a matter more 
difficult to such a spirit than any strain of resistance to harsher 
persecutions. The next meeting he does not seem to have at- 
tended; but on hearing their decision, wrote to the Session 
the following letter, full of an almost weeping tenderness, as 
well as of a resolution which nothing could move : — 

"London, December 24, 1831. 
" My dear Brethren, — There is nothing which I would not sur- 
render to you, even to my life, except to hinder or retard in any way 
what I most clearly discern to be the work of God's Holy Spirit, which, 
with heart and hand, we must all further, as we value the salvation of 
our immortal souls. I most solemnly warn you all, in the name of the 
most High God, for no earthly consideration whatever, to gainsay or 
impede the work of speaking with tongues and prophesying which God 
had begun amongst us, and which answereth in all respects, both form- 
ally and spiritually, to the thing promised in the Scriptures to those 
who believe ; possessed in the primitive Church, and much prayed for 
by us all. I will do everything I can, dear brethren, to lead you into the 
truth in this matter ; but God alone can give you to discern it, for it is 
a work of the Spirit, and only spiritually discerned. It cannot but be 
with great detriment to the church over which we watch, and much 
grieving to the Spirit of God, that any steps should be taken against it. 
And I do beseech you, as men for whose souls I watch, not to take any. 
I cannot find liberty to deviate in anything from the order laid down in 
my former letter, received by the trustees, the 22nd of November, which 
is according to the commandments of the Lord, and in nothing 
contradictory to the constitutions of the Church of Scotland. And to 
that letter I refer the trustees, as containing the grounds of my pro- 
ceeding. Farewell ! may the Lord have you in His holy keeping and 
guidance ! 

" Your affectionate and faithful friend and pastor, 

" Edwd Irving." 

So the year closed, in perplexity and anxious fear to all 
those friendly and affectionate opponents whom the heat of 
conflict had not yet excited into any animosity against himself j 



IMPORTUNITIES OF HIS FRIENDS. 341 

but not in perplexity to Irving, who, secure in his faith, doubted 
nothing, and was as ready to march to stake or gibbet, had such 
things been practicable, as any primitive martyr. But sharp 
to his heart struck those reiterated prayers which he could not 
grant — those importunities of affectionate unreasonableness, 
which would neither see this duty as he saw it, nor perceive how 
impossible it was for him, believing as he did, to restrain or limit 
the utterances of Grod. Such a want of perception must have 
aggravated to an intolerable height the sufferings of his tender 
heart in this slow and tedious disruption of all its closest ties ; 
but he showed no sign of impatience. He answered them with 
a pathetic outburst of sorrowful love, " There is nothing which 
I would not surrender to you, even to my life," — nothing but 
the duty he owed to Grod. In that dreadful alternative, when 
human friendship and honour stood on one side, and what he 
believed his true service to his Master on the other, Irving had 
no possibility of choice. Never man loved love and honour 
more ; but he turned away with steadfast sadness, smiling a 
smile full of tears and anguish upon those brethren whose 
affection would still add torture to the pain that was inevitable. 
He could descend into the darkening world alone, and suffer 
the loss of almost all that was dear to his heart. He could bear to 
be shut out from his pulpit, excommunicated by his Church, 
forsaken of his friends. What he could not do, was to weigh 
his own comfort, happiness, or life, for a moment, against what 
he believed to be the will and ordinance of Grod. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

1832. 



The . next year began with but a gradual increase of dark- 
ness to the devoted household, from which old friends were 
failing and old ties breaking every day. It was no lack of 
affection which necessitated those partings ; but utter disagree- 
ment in a point so important, and the growing impatience of 
the sensible, " practical " men around him for that impracticable 
faith which no motive of prudence nor weight of reasoning 
could move, inevitably took the heart from their intercourse, 
and produced a gradual alienation between Irving and his 
ancient brethren. Other friends, it is true, came in to take 



342 ROBERT BAXTER. 

their place — partisans still more close, loyal, and loving — but 
they were new, little tried, strangers to all his native sympa- 
thies and prejudices, neither Scotch nor Presbyterian : and with 
equal inevitableness took up an attitude of opposition to the 
older party, and made the pathetic struggle an internecine war. 
On all sides the friends of years parted from Irving's side. His 
wife's relations, with whom he had exchanged so many good 
offices and tender counsels, were, to a man, against him : so 
were his elders, with one exception. His friends outside the 
ecclesiastical boundaries were still less tolerant. Thomas 
Carlyle and his wife, both much beloved, not only disagreed, 
but remonstrated ; the former making a vehement protestation 
against the " Bedlam " and " Chaos " to which his friend's steps 
were tending, which Irving listened to in silence, covering his 
face with his hands. When the philosopher had said, doubtless 
in no measured or lukewarm terms, what he had to say, the 
mournful apostle lifted his head, and addressed him with all 
the tenderness of their youth — " Dear friend ! " — that turning 
of the other cheek seems to have touched the heart of the sage 
almost too deeply to make him aware what was the defence 
which the other returned to his fiery words. None of his old 
supporters, hitherto so devoted and loyal, stood by Irving in 
this extremity ; nobody except the wife, who shared all his 
thoughts, and followed him faithfully in faith as well as in love 
to the margin of the grave. 

"Very early in this year the little band of " gifted " persons, 
whose presence had made so much commotion in Regent Square, 
and of whom we have hitherto had no very clear and recogniz- 
able picture, is opened up to us in the narrative, which I have 
already referred to, of one of the most remarkable among them, 
Mr Robert Baxter, then of Doncaster. Having but recently 
appeared within the inspired circle, this gentleman had made 
his utterrances with so much power and authority, that already 
adumbrations of an office higher than the prophetic over- 
shadowed him, and he seems to have taken a leading place in 
all the closest and most sacred conferences of the prophets. He 
had been for some years known to Irving ; his character for god- 
liness and devotion stood high, and he was so much in the con- 
fidence and fellowship of the minister of the church in Regent 
Square as to have been, before any gifts had manifested them- 
selves in him, permitted occasionally to conduct some part of 
the service in the morning prayer-meetings. At length he 
spoke, and that with a force and fulness not yet attained by any 
of the other speakers. " In the beginning of my utterances that 
evening," he says in his narrative, " some observations were in 



THE TWO WITNESSES. 343 

the power addressed by me to the pastor in a commanding tone ; 
and the manner and course of utterance was so far differing 
from those which had been manifested in the members of his 

own flock, that he was much startled I was made to 

bid those present ask instruction upon any subject on which 
they sought to be taught of Grod ; and to several questions 
asked, answers were given by me in the power. One in par- 
ticular was so answered with such reference to the circumstances 
of the case, of which in myself I was wholly ignorant, as to 
convince the person who asked it that the Spirit speaking in 
me knew those circumstances, and alluded to them in the 
answer." This further development of the gift, after a mo- 
mentary doubt, was received with still fuller gratitude and 
trust by Irving, who communicated the news, as follows, to 
his friend Mr Story, transmitting the message itself, as well 
as the claims of the messenger to increased honour and re- 
verence. 

"London, 27th January, 1832. 
"My dear Brother, — It has been said in the Spirit by a brother 
(Robert Baxter of Doncaster; he has written several papers in the 
Morning Watch), that the Two Witnesses are two orders of anointed 
men, the prophets and the priests, the one after the Old Testament, the 
other after the New Testament form ; the one those who speak with 
tongues, and to whom the Word of the Lord comes without power to 
go beyond or fall within ; the other the apostolical, in whom the Spirit 
of Jesus dwells as in Jesus Himself for utterance of every sort, with 
demonstration of the Spirit, and with power. Eor the last six months, 
the Spirit hath been moving him, and uttering by him privately ; but 
his mouth was not opened till Eriday week, when he was reading the 
Scriptures and praying at our early service. Erom that time for more 
than a week he continued [among us*] speaking in the power and 
demonstration of the Spirit with great authority, always concluding in 
the Spirit with a benediction. To me it seems to be the apostolical 
office for which I have had faith given to me to [pray] both publicly 
and privately these many months. I gave him liberty to speak on the 
Lord's day, but God did not see it meet. A clergyman of the 
[Church] had the faith to give him his pulpit last Sunday, when he 
prayed in the Spirit. He said in the Spirit that the two orders of wit- 
nesses were now present in the Church, the 1260 days of witnessing 
are begun, and that within three and a half years, the saints will be 
taken up, according to the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse. (This is not 
to date the Lord's coming, which is some time after His saints are with 
Him.) Also, he said in the Spirit that ordination by the hands of the 
Church is cut short in judgment, and that God Himself is about to set 
forth by the Spirit a spiritual ministry, for which we ought to prepare 

* This letter is torn and partly illegible. The few words in brackets are 
filled in from the evident meaning of the context. 



344 MRS CAIRD. 

the people. That both the Church and the State are accursed ; that 
the abomination of iniquity is set up in this land, and that here the wit- 
nesses will be slain ; that many people, multitudes, will be gathered of 
the people, a goodly number of the nobles, and the king himself, given 
to the prayers of his people ; but that the nation and the Church will 
be else destroyed. That the pestilence and the sword will overflow the 
land, but the people of God preserved ; and that those who are looking 
for the coming of the Lord, should set their house in order, and be sit- 
ting loose. These things I believe, some of them I understand, others 
I have not yet attained to. I write them for your reflection ; do not 
make them matter of news, but of meditation. The Lord greatly 
blesses my ministry. His way is wonderfully opened among us, and 
those that know Him gather strength daily. I have no doubt that He 
is preparing the way of a great work in my church, through much 
reproach and apparent foolishness. My own soul hath greater en- 
trance unto God. The Lord is leavening this city with His truth. 
Every night there are several places at which the men of the congrega- 
tion gather the poor to discourse to them. I seldom preach less than 
seven times a week, and we meet more than two hundred every morning 
for prayer in the Church, at half-past six o'clock, and continue till eight, 
and have done it the winter through. I intermingle it with pastoral 
admonitions, and the Spirit speaks almost every morning by the pro- 
phets and interpreters. Oh, Story, thou hast grievously sinned in stand- 
ing afar off from the work of the Lord, scanning it like a sceptic instead 
of proving it like a spiritual man ! Ah, brother, repent, and the Lord 
will forgive thee ! I am very much troubled for you ; but I rejoice in 
your returning strength. God give you unmeasured faithfulness ! . . . 

" Your faithful friend and brother, 
"Edwd Irving. 

" Mrs Caird is a saint of God, and hath the gift of prophecy." 

Mrs Caird thus referred to, the gifted Mary Campbell of 
the Grairloch, who appears to have been again in London, 
and to whom Irving bears such emphatic testimony, had by 
this time failed to satisfy the expectations of her former 
pastor and oldest friend, the minister of Eosneath ; and the 
sentence of approval pronounced with so much decision and 
brevity at the conclusion of this letter addressed to him, was 
Irving's manner of avoiding controversy and making his 
friend aware that, highly as he esteemed himself, he could 
hear nothing against the other, whose character had received 
the highest of all guarantees to his unquestioning faith. 
Our history has little directly to do with this remarkable 
woman, who does not appear distinctly even in the revela- 
tions of Mr Baxter ; but I am happy to have it in my power 
to refer my readers to the biography of Mr Story, which has 
been already mentioned, for many most interesting and 
powerful sketches of the secondary persons who crossed and 



345 

influenced in different degrees the faith of Irving. None of 
all the prophetic speakers who at this time wrought into the 
highest dramatic excitement the little world of Eegent 
Square, appears before us in such recognizable personality as 
does Mr Baxter. He tells his strange story with all the in- 
tensity of passion, and that unconscious eloquence which 
inspires a man when he chronicles the climax and culmina- 
tion of his own life. In the wonderful sphere revealed to us 
in his little book, the detail of ordinary circumstances scarcely 
appears at all. The scene outside, in all its real and pathetic 
particulars, wringing some hearts and grieving many, is not 
visible in the closer sanctuary within, where Mr Baxter draws 
the curtain. There life lies rapt in ecstatic nights of devo- 
tion, yet with an inward eye always turned upon the move- 
ments of its own heart ; there sudden supernatural impulses, 
fiery breaths of inspiration, seize upon the expectant soul — 
there, in a mysterious fellowship, prophet after prophet, with 
convulsed frame and miraculous outcry, takes up the burden 
and enforces the message of his predecessor ; by times elec- 
trifying the little assembly with sudden denunciation of some 
secret sin in the midst of them, over which judgment is hang- 
ing, or of some intruding devil who has found entrance into 
the sacred place. The fact that these awful assemblies are 
in the first place collected to dinner makes an uncomfortable 
discord in the scene, till the chief seer of the company be- 
comes himself uneasy on that score, and declares " in the 
power " that this assembling with a secular motive is un- 
seemly, and must be no longer continued., But the meetings 
themselves continue daily, nightly, the record flowing on as 
if life itself must have come by the way, and these reunions 
alone have been the object of existence. 

In this strange drama Irving appears more than a spec- 
tator, and less than an actor. He is there listening with fer- 
vent faith, trying the spirits with anxious scrutiny, his own 
lofty mind bringing to a species of ineffable reason and proof, 
those phenomena which were entirely beyond either proof or 
reason, both to the ecstatics who received them unhesitat- 
ingly, and to the sceptics who could not receive them at all. 
In the case of Mr Baxter above described, " the pastor " was 
"troubled," fearing that this new development of the utter- 
ance resembled the case of " two children in Gloucestershire 
who had been made to speak in wonderful power, and who 
afterwards were found to speak by a false spirit." "He 
came up to me," says Mr Baxter, " and said, ' Faith is very 
hard.' I was immediately made to address him, and reason 



346 EVANGELISTS. 

with him in the power, until he was fully convinced the 
Spirit was of G-od, and gave thanks for the manifestation of 
it." At another time this prophet, having been directed by 
the mysterious influence within him to proceed to the Court 
of Chancery, where a message was to be given him, found on 
proceeding there, with tragic expectations of prison and 
penalty, that the impulse was withheld. Deeply disap- 
pointed, he came to Irving in his discomfiture, and the pastor 
soothed the impatience of the inspired speaker, and re-estab- 
lished his failing faith. In the midst of another exciting 
scene, in which the exorcism of an evil spirit is attempted 
without success, where Mrs Caird and Baxter himself stand 
over the supposed demoniac, adjuring the devil to come out 
of him, and another prophetess of weaker frame has fainted 
in the excitement, Irving once more appears, exhorting them 
to patience — suggesting, as our informant significantly says, 
that " this kind goeth not forth but with prayer and fasting." 
Such is his position in that strange atmosphere where hectic 
expectation is always on tiptoe, and where the air throbs 
with spiritual presence. No prophetic message comes from 
his lips ; but he has not relinquished his authority, the sway 
of a spirit which is roused, but not intoxicated, by the sur- 
rounding miracle. 

In the church itself the warnings and admonitions of the 
new prophets had borne more wholesome fruit. A new body 
of Evangelists sprang up among the spiritual men of the con- 
gregation, who went preaching everywhere, sometimes even 
bringing upon themselves the observation of the alarmed 
protectors of the public peace, and " being called up before 
the magistrates on account of it," as Mr Baxter informs us 
— a harmless kind of persecution, which naturally the new 
preachers, in the exuberance of early zeal, made the most of. 
Irving himself, always so lavish in labour, was not behind in 
this quickening of evangelical exertion. He describes him- 
self as preaching " seldom less than seven times a week ; " 
besides which he had the morning meeting constantly to at- 
tend, children to cathechise, conferences to hold, and a close 
perpetual background of private expositions, prophesyings, 
and prayers, in which, without any metaphor, his entire life 
seems to have been occupied. 

At the same time, notwithstanding the reluctant affec- 
tion of the managers of the church, affairs made inevitable 
progress. Though it is perfectly true, on one side, that there 
were no direct laws of the Church of Scotland against the 
exercise of an entirely unexpected endowment for which no 



347 

provision had been made, and equally certain that to every 
man who believed these gifts genuine, no sin could be more 
heinous than a wilful suppression of them ; yet it was still 
more apparent, on the other side, that nothing could be more 
unlike the reserved and austere worship of the Scotch Church, 
so carefully abstracted from everything that could excite 
imagination or passion, than the new and startling interven- 
tion of voices, unauthorized by any ecclesiastical rule, which 
introduced the whole round of human excitement into those 
calm Presbyterian Sabbath-days, stirring into utter antagon- 
ism, impatience, and opposition the former leaders of the 
community, who found themselves thus defied and thwarted 
on their own ground. For their minister's convictions they 
had the utmost tenderness and reverence, but they would 
indeed have been more than men could they have seen with 
equal forbearance the new influence, twenty times more en- 
grossing and exacting than theirs, which had become absolute 
with him, and through him exercised unbounded sway in all 
their public religious services. Peelings less tender and 
Christian came in. Men who little more than a year before 
had pledged their honour to Irving' s support against the 
petty persecution of the Presbytery, and maintained him in 
his withdrawal from its jurisdiction, now began to bethink 
themselves of the capabilities of that very Presbytery against 
which they had protested. That court only could, with any 
ecclesiastical consistency, arbitrate between them and their 
minister ; and at length they seem to have reached the pitch 
of indignation and impatience necessary to induce them to 
take the humiliating step of asking the intervention of the 
authority which they had renounced, against the man for 
whose sake, a little while before, they had thrown off their 
allegiance. This painful conclusion was, however, reached 
by slow degrees. The first step towards it was taken in the 
beginning of the year, when — still with a forlorn and indeed 
most hopeless hope of breaking Irving's resolution, if they 
were clearly demonstrated to have the law on their side— 
they submitted the whole facts of the case to Sir Edward 
Sugden, and obtained that eminent lawyer's opinion in their 
favour. This decision gave an authoritative answer to the 
assumption that the direction of the order of worship in Re- 
gent Square church was entirely in the hands of the minister, 
which Irving seems to have been advised to set up in answer 
to their remonstrances. Armed with this document, a de- 
putation of the trustees went to Irving, asking his final de- 
termination. " He received them cordially," writes Mr 



348 irving's advice to his people. 

Hamilton ; " expressed himself much gratified with the kind 
manner in which they had always treated him, and promised 
to give them his answer in a few days." A Sunday inter- 
vened before this answer was given ; and on that day, after 
each service in the church, Irving forestalled the formal in- 
timation, which, indeed, so thoroughly were his sentiments 
known, was nothing more than a form, by a public statement 
from the pulpit, which Mr Hamilton, following the course 
of events in anxious and minute detail, reports to Kirkcaldy. 
" I have something of great importance to say to you," said 
the preacher, according to his brother-in-law's report : — 

" I do not know whether I may ever look this congregation again in 
the face in this place, and whether the doors of the church will not be 
shut against me during this week. If it be so, it will be simply because 
I have refused to allow the voice of the Spirit of God to be silenced in 
this church. No man has anything to say against me. I have offended 
no ordinance of God or man, and I have broken no statute of man. 
No one has found any fault with me at all except in the matter of my 
God — nay, on the contrary, every one has pronounced me even more 
abundant in my labours and more diligent in my duties of late ; and 
also that my preaching has been more simple and edifying than formerly. 
The church has been enlarged ; many souls have been converted by the 
voice of the Spirit ; the church has fallen off in nothing ; and altogether 
the work of the Lord has been proceeding. But because I am firm in 
my honour of God and reverence for His ordinances, we are come to 
this. Now I must provide for my flock. What are you to do ? You 
must not come here. Here the Spirit of God has been cast out, and 
none can prosper who come here to worship. Go not to any church 
where they look shyly on the work of the Spirit. We must ' not for- 
sake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.' 
This, then, I advise for the present, that each householder who is a 
member of this flock do gather around him those in his neighbourhood 
who are not householders, and joining to them the poor, do exhort 
them and expound to them the word of the Lord. . . . And if he has 
no gifts, there are plenty of young men in this church who are gifted, 
and who are willing to be so employed, and I myself am willing to 
be helpful in all ways in this work. All the other meetings of the 
church will be held in my house. Let no one be troubled for me : I 
am not troubled. When I came to London, I said, ' Let me have the 
liberty to preach the Gospel without let or hindrance, and I am ready 
to come without any bond or money transaction ; and if there is any 
difficulty, let me come and be among you from house to house.' To 
these kind friends I am beholden. They have ever provided me with 
what was needful; but I have never counted my house my own, nor 
my money my own ; they have been for the brethren. And now I am 
ready to go forth and leave them, if the Lord's will be so. If we should 
be cast out for the truth, let us rejoice; yea, let us exceedingly rejoice." 

Such was the sorrowful elder's account of this address. 



ANSWER TO THE TRUSTEES. 349 

winch comes through his memory evidently dimmed out of 
its natural eloquence, but touching in the perfect truthful- 
ness of its appeal to the recollection at once of the hearers 
and of the speaker himself. Many of those who heard Irving 
speak these words could prove from their own remembrance 
the lofty disinterestedness with which he had begun his 
career, and none more than the men who now felt it neces- 
sary to take from him the house and income which, as he 
says, "he never counted his own." What prospect of com- 
pulsory silence to himself or dispersion to his flock had been 
in his mind, prompting that singular piece of advice to " every 
householder," it is impossible to tell. Perhaps when he 
spread the lawyer's judgment before the Lord, dark indica- 
tions of future trouble had trembled on the prophetic lips, 
and nothing which he could interpret as a clear indication 
of the Divine will had made light in the darkness of the fu- 
ture. But, however that might be, his course was decided. 
If even he had to be silent from that work of preaching which 
had at all times been his chosen occupation, he who would 
have come to London ten years before without " bond or 
money transaction," only to have " the liberty of preaching 
the Grospel," was now ready to relinquish not only all his 
living, but that dearer privilege, the very power of preaching, 
if so it must be, rather than put any limit upon the utter- 
ances which he believed Divine. The next day, after this 
intimation to the people, he gave the formal answer which 
had been demanded from him to the trustees of the church. 

" 13, Jadd Place East, 28th February, 1832. _ 
"My dear Brethren, — I have read over the opinion, of Sir 
Edward Sugden, which you were so kind as to submit to me, and I 
have taken a full week to consider of it. The principle on which I 
have acted is to preserve the integrity of my ministerial character un- 
impaired, and to fulfil my office according to the word of God. If the 
trust-deed do fetter me therein, I knew it not when the trust-deed was 
drawn, and am sure that it never was intended in the drawing of it ; 
for certainly I would not, to possess all the churches of this land, bind 
myself one iota from obeying the great Head and Bishop of the Church. 
But if it be so that you, the trustees, must act to prevent me and my 
flock from assembling to worship God, according to the word of God, 
in the house committed into your trust, we will look unto our God for 
preservation and safe keeping. Farewell ! may the Lord have you in 
His holy keeping ! 

" Your faithful and affectionate friend, 

Edwd Irving." 

After this, he was vexed with no more of those affectionate 
and importunate arguments which had tried his tender heart 



350 SIR EDWARD STJGDEN's ADVICE. 

for months before. The division was now accepted as final, 
compromise was no longer possible, and nothing remained 
but to prove his divergence from the rules of Presbyterian 
worship, and to close the church-doors upon him. " The 
trustees," said Sir Edward Sugden, " ought immediately to 
proceed to remove Mr Irving from his pastoral charge, by 
making complaint to the London Presbytery in the manner 
pointed out by the deed." It was now understood by both 
parties that this was the only course to be adopted ; and the 
minister who had withdrawn from the censures of that 
Presbytery a year before, disowning its jurisdiction — and 
the men* who had rallied round him then, and solemnly 
declared their entire approval at once of that act and of the 
sentiments which had roused the Presbytery into censure — 
had now to approach that obscure tribunal to have the 
matter between them decided ; the one to stand at the un- 
friendly bar, the others to prosecute their charge against him. 

If Irving had carried matters with a high hand once, 
when, secure of support and rich in friends, he shook off the 
dust from his feet in testimony against the arbitrary con- 
demnation of his former brethren, the reverse that befell him 
now, when forced to return and plead his cause before them, 
would have been mortification enough to any ordinary man. 
He accepted it, however, with lofty composure, and without a 
complaint, throwing no obstacles in the way of those for 
whose relief and satisfaction this trial was to be inflicted on him. 

It was not till the 22nd of March that the Presbytery re- 
ceived the complaint of the trustees. An entire month con- 
sequently elapsed between the solemn intimation made by Irv- 
ing to his people, that their church would probably be closed 
upon them, and the commencement of the proceedings. This 
month passed in the ordinary labours — the extraordinary de- 
votions common to his life. Every wintry morning dawned 
upon the servant of Grod amid prayers and prophesyings 
while he stood, the first to hear and to worship amid the 
early company, never intermitting, notwithstanding his faith, 
the pastor's anxious care that admonition should be mingled 
with revelation, and that the spirits should prove themselves 
to be of God, by acknowledging the name that is above all 
names ; every laborious evening fell, filled up till its latest mo- 
ments with his Master's business. Day by day he preached, 
day by day sent forth other men into the streets and high- 
ways to preach — if not like him, yet with hearts touched by 
* The Trustees and Kirk- session were not identical ; but the most 
influential of Irving' s opponents were members of both. 



THE LIFE OF THE ACCUSED. 351 

the same fire ; over those perpetual evangelist proclamations 
without, and that wonderful world of expectation within, in 
which at any moment Grod's audible voice might thrill the 
worshippers, the days passed one by one, mingling the din 
of busy London, the incidents of common life, the domestic 
voices and tender tones of children, with the highest strain 
of human toil, and climax of human emotion. Such a ca- 
dence and rhythmical overflow of life few men have ever at- 
tained. The highest dreams of imagination, trembling among 
things incomprehensible, could realize nothing more awful, 
nothing so certain to take entire possession of the fascinated 
soul as those utterances of the Spirit if they were true — and 
they were true to Irving's miraculous heart; while, at the 
same time, no labouring man could imagine a more ceaseless 
round of toil than that by which he kept the mighty equi- 
librium of his soul, and counterpoised with generous work 
the excitement and agitation which might otherwise have 
overwhelmed him. Between those two consuming yet com- 
pensating spheres, the man himself, not yet exhausted, stands 
in a pale glow of suffering and injured love, wounded in the 
house of his friends, with a hundred arrows in the heart 
which knows no defence against the assault of unkind words 
and averted looks. He makes no outcry of his own suffer- 
ing. There, where he stands, the dearest voices murmur at 
him with taunts of cruel wisdom or censures of indignant 
virtue. They say he seeks notoriety, courts the wild suffrage 
of popular applause, they cast at him common nicknames of 
enthusiasm, fanaticism, delusion ; they call him arrogant, 
presumptuous, vain — even, with more vulgar tongues, re- 
ligious trickster and cheat. In the very fulness of that lofty 
and prodigal existence, the blow strikes to the fountains of 
life. A friend had once said to him that Christians ought to 
rejoice when the outside world despised and contemned the 
Church. " Ah, no ! " answered, with a sigh, this soul ex- 
perienced in such trials, " Reproach hath broken my heart ! " 
These words breathe out of his uncomplaining lips at this 
crisis with ineffable sadness, sometimes breaking forth in 
pathetic outbursts of that grief which, in its passion and 
vehemence, sounds almost like the lofty wrath of the old 
prophets, and giving sometimes a momentary thrill of discord 
to his undiminished eloquence. Already he had entered deep 
into the pangs of martyrdom. 

With strange calmness, after these utterances of emotion, 
Mr Hamilton's sensible, regretful voice interposes once more 
in the narrative, telling over again, with the sigh of impatient 



352 LAST REMONSTRANCE. 

wonder natural to a man so sagacious and unexcitable, those 
same prophecies and revelations given by Mr Baxter, which 
Irving had reported in full conviction of their importance. 
" I merely mention the above, to give you some idea of the 
nature of the manifestations which have been made in the 
church," he writes. " There have been others, however, of a 
much more comforting tendency. I believe that a large pro- 
portion of the present congregation agree with Edward in 
the belief of the reality of those manifestations, and that they 
will follow him wherever he may remove to ; and I must say 
that they are in general very pious people, zealous for God, 
and most exemplary in the discharge of their religious duties. 
As for Edward, he continues unwearied and unceasing in his 
labours ; indeed, it is a marvel to me how he is able to bear 
up under them all. I never knew any man so devoted to the 
service of his Master, or more zealous iD the performance of 
what he conceives to be his duty." 

Such being the condition of affairs, the question came before 
the London Presbytery to its final trial. 

Before, however, these final proceedings were commenced, 
Irving addressed yet another letter to his opponents. It is 
without date, but was evidently intended to reach them on the 
occasion of a conclusive meeting, of which he had been inform- 
ed ; and, while less familiar and more solemn than his former 
letters, still overflows with personal affection. 

" Men and Brethren, — As a man and the head of a family, bound 
to provide for himself and those of his own house, I am enabled of God 
to be perfectly indifferent to the issue of your deliberations this night, 
though it should go to deprive me of all my income, and cast me — after 
ten years of hard service, upon the wide world, with my wife and my 
children — forth from a house which was built almost entirely upon the 
credit of my name, and primarily for my life enjoyment, where also 
the ashes of my children repose. 

"As a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath been honoured 
of Him to bring forth from obscurity a whole system of precious truth, 
and especially to proclaim to this land the glad and glorious tidings of 
His speedy coming, and strengthened of Him to stand for the great bul- 
warks of the faith, ofttimes almost single and alone, I am still indifferent 
to the issue of this night's deliberations, which can bring little addition 
to the hardens of one groaning under the reproach of ten thousand 
tongues, in ten thousand ways put forth against his good and honour- 
able name. For I am well assured that my God whom I serve, and for 
whom I suffer reproach, will support and richly reward me, even though 
ye also should turn against me, whom the Lord set to be a defence and 
protection round about me. As the pastor of a flock, consisting of 
several hundreds of precious souls, and the minister of the word unto 



WARNING. 606 

thousands weekly, nay, daily, congregating into our beautiful house, 
though it hath cost me many a pang I am also entirely resigned to His will, 
and can cast them all upon His rich and bountif ul providence, who is the 
good Shepherd of the sheep, and doth carry the lambs in His bosom, and 
gently lead those that are great with young. On no account, therefore, be 
ye assured, personal to myself as a man, as a minister of Christ, or as 
a pastor of His people, do I intrude myself upon your meeting this 
night with this communication ; but for your sakes I wait, even for yours, 
who are, every one of you, dear to my heart. Bear with me, then, the 
more patiently, seeing it is for your sakes I take up my pen to write. 

" I do you solemnly to wit, men and brethren, before Almighty God, 
the heart-searcher, that whosoever lifteth a finger against the work 
which is proceeding in the Church of Christ under my pastoral care, is 
rising up against the Holy Ghost ; and I warn him, even with tears, to 
beware and stand back, for he will assuredly bring upon himself the wrath 
and indignation of the God of heaven and earth, if he dare to go for- 
ward. Many months of most painstaking and searching observation, the 
most varied proofs of every kind, taken with all the skill and circumspec- 
tion which the Lord hath bestoweduponme ; thesubstance of the doctrine, 
the character of the Spirit, and the form and circumstances of the ut- 
terances tried by the Holy Scriptures, and whatever remains most ven- 
erable in the traditions of the Church ; the present power and penetra- 
tion of the Word spoken, over the souls of the most holy persons, with 
the abiding effects of edification upon hundreds who have come under 
my own personal knowledge ; the nature of the opposition which, from a 
hundred quarters, most of them entirely indifferent, infidel, and atheisti- 
cal, hath arisen against it, together with the effects which the opposi- 
tion hath had upon the minds of honest and good persons who have 
stumbled at it ; their haste and headiness ; their unrest and trouble of 
mind ; the attempt of Satan, by mimicry of the work, and thrusting in 
upon it of seduction and devil-possessed persons to mar it, and the 
jealous holiness with which God hath detected all these attempts, and 
watched over His own work to keep it from intermixture and pollution ; 
and above all, the testimony of the Holy Ghost in my own conscience, 
as a man serving God with my house ; the discernment of the same 
Holy Ghost in me as a minister over His truth and watchman over His 
people ; all these, and many other things, which I am not careful to 
set out in order, or at large, seeing the time for argument is gone by, 
and the time for delivering a man's soul is come, do leave not a shadow 
of doubt on my mind, that the work which hath begun under the roof 
of our sanctuary, and which many of you are taking steps to prevent 
from proceeding there, is the work of God, — is verily the mighty work 
of God, the most sacred work of the Holy Ghost ; which to blaspheme, 
is to blaspheme the Holy Ghost ; which to act against, is to act against 
the Holy Ghost. This is the guilt of the action you are proceeding in ; 
whether there be sufficient cause for bringing down such a load upon 
your heads, dearly-beloved brethren, judge ye. For my part, I would 
rather, were I a trustee, lose all my property ten times told than move 
a finger in hinderance of this great work of God, which God calleth on 
you to further by all means in your power, and to abide the consequences, 
of a prosecution, yea, all consequences between life and death, rather 

23 



354 IMPASSIONED APPEAL. 

than hinder. Oh, ' what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul ; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? ' 
" You have determined to lodge a complaint against me to the 
London Presbytery, for no immorality of conduct, for no neglect of duty, 
for no breach of good faith, for no change of ordinance proper to the 
Church of Scotland, for no departure from the constitution of the 
Church of Scotland, for no cause, in point of fact, which was or could 
have been contemplated in the formation of the trust-deed, but simply 
and solely because God, in His great love and mercy, hath restored the 
gifts of Providence to the church under my care, and I, the responsible 
minister under Christ, being convinced thereof, have taken it upon me 
to order it according to the mind and will of Christ, the only Head and 
Potentate of His Church, as the same is expressed in the Holy Scrip- 
tures. I ask ye before God, and as ye shall answer at the great day, if 
the trust-deed could have been intended to prevent the spiritual gifts 
from ever being exercised within the building, or from being ordered 
according to the word of God ? May I go further, and ask whether the 
constitution of the Church of Scotland, or of any church, could be in- 
tended to keep the voice of Jesus from being heard, as heretofore it was 
wont to be, within the assemblies of His people ? Oh, beloved brethren, 
how can you find it in your hearts to complain against one who hath 
been so faithful amongst you to declare the whole counsel of God, and 
to do everything by night and by day for the good of the flock and of all 
men, merely because he hath been faithful to his Lord, as well as to the 
people of the Lord* and would not by a mountain of opposition be 
daunted from acknowledging the work and walking by the counsel of 
his God ? I beseech you to search your hearts, and examine how much 
of this complaint ariseth from a desire to do your duty as trustees, how 
much from dislike and opposition to the work, from the influence of 
the popular stream, and the fear of the popular odium, from your own 
pride of heart and unwillingness to examine anything new, from the 
love of being at ease in Zion, and from other evil causes over which 
I have a constant jealousy in myself, and in my flock, whom I should 
love better than myself. I do not judge any one in this matter ; but I 
would be blind indeed if I did not discern the working of these and the 
like motives of the flesh in many of you, and I would be unfaithful if 
I did not mention them. I fear lest I may have been unfaithful in time 
past ; if so, God forgive me, and do you forgive me, and take this as 
the last and complete expression of my love to all of you. Oh, my 
brethren, take time and think what tenant may be expected to come 
and take up his abode in that house from which the Holy Ghost hath 
been cast forth ! It will never prosper or come to any good until it hath 
been cleansed from this abomination by sore and sorrowful repentance. 
How can you make a fashion of calling it a house of praise or prayer 
any longer, after having banished forth of it the voice of Jesus lifted up 
in the midst of the church of His saints, which is the temple of the Holy 
Ghost ? Surely disappointment and defeat will rest upon it for ever. 
God will not bless it ; the servants of God will flee away from it ; it 
will stand a monument of folly and infatuation. Nay, so much hath the 
Lord made me to perceive the iniquity of this thing, that I believe it 
will bring down judgment upon all who take part in it, upon their 



THE TRUSTEES* COMPLAINT. 355 

houses, upon the city itself in which the National Scotch Church hath 
been a lamp, yea, and a light unto the whole land, and to the distant 
parts of the earth. Oh, my brethren, retrace your steps, leave this work 
in the hands of the Lord. Come forward and confess your sin in having 
thought or spoken evil against it. Come to the help of God against 
the mighty. I beseech you to hear my words. They have been 
written with prayer and fasting ; and when I read them over about an 
hour ago in the hearing of one gifted with the Spirit, that the Lord, if 
He saw good, might express His mind, the consequences which he de- 
nounced upon the doing of this act were frightful to hear. I had little 
thought of mentioning this to any one, but it seemeth to be not right to 
hide it in my own breast. If you desire, dear brethren, any personal 
communication with me upon this awful subject, I beseech you to send 
for me, and I will be at your call ; for I could stand to be tortured from 
head to foot, rather than any one of you should go forward in such an 
undertaking, as to prevent the voice of God from being heard in any 
house over which you have any jurisdiction. 

" May the Lord preserve you from all evil, and lead you in the way 
of His own blessed will ! Amen, and Amen ! 

" Your faithful and loving pastor and friend, 

" Ed wd Irving." 

The trustees of the church received this impassioned appeal, 
knowing better than any other men how true were those asser- 
tions of his own purity and faithfulness to which Irving was 
driven ; but with such an address in their hands went forward, 
calmly, to the Presbytery, and presented the complaint, which 
he marvels, with grieved surprise and wounded affection, how 
they could " find it in their heart " to prefer against him. This 
complaint, which begins by setting forth the character of the 
trust-deed, and the rigid particularity with which it had bound 
the Eegent Square church to the worship of the Church of 
Scotland, finally settles into five charges against the minister. 
Perhaps it was in tenderness for him that every hint of diver- 
gence in doctrine, or even of extravagance in belief, was kept 
back from this strange indictment ; but it is impossible to read, 
without wonder, those charges upon which the existence of a 
congregation, and the position of a man so notable and honour- 
ed, now depended. They are as follows : — 

" First. — That the Rev. Edward Irving has suffered and permitted, 
and still allows, the public services of the church in the worship of God, 
on the Sabbath and other days, to be interrupted by persons not being 
either ministers or licentiates of the Church of Scotland. 

u Second— -That the said Rev. Edward Irving has suffered and per- 
mitted, and still allows, the public services of the said church, in the 
worship of God, to be interrupted by persons not being either members 
or seatholders of the said church. 

" Third. — That the said Rev. E. Irving has suffered and permitted, 
and also publicly encourages, females to speak in the same church, and 



356 MEETING OF THE PRESBYTERY. 

to interrupt and disturb the public worship of God in the church od 
Sabbath and other days. 

" Fourth. — That the said Rev. E. Irving hath suffered and permitted, 
and also publicly encourages, other individuals, members of the said 
church, to interrupt and disturb the public worship of God in the 
church on Sabbath and other days. 

" Fifth. — That the said Rev. E. Irving, for the purpose of encour- 
aging and exciting the said interruptions, has appointed times when a 
suspension of the usual worship in the said church takes place, for 
said persons to exercise the supposed gifts with which they profess to 
be endowed." 

After all the agitation and excitement, after the sorrowful 
struggle which had*just come to an end, and all the depths of 
feeling and suffering involved, this bald statement comes with 
all the effect of an anti-climax upon the interested spectator. 
Was this, then, all ? — these mere matters of fact — this breach 
of common regulation and decorum ? Was this important 
enough to call for all the formal paraphernalia of law — the 
reverend bench of judges — the witnesses and examinations — 
the pleas of accuser and defender ? The court, we may be sure, 
had no mind to confine itself to the mere proof of charges so 
trifling in themselves. A month after the presentation of 
this indictment, the Presbytery assembled for " the hearing 
of parties." There were present six ministers and three elders ; 
and the place of meeting was the old Scotch Church in Lon- 
don Wall. A Mr Mann, one of the trustees, appeared for the 
complainers ; Irving stood by himself on his defence — Mr 
Cardale, a solicitor, accompanying him, and making what 
hopeless attempts he could, now and then, to recall the pre- 
cautions of a court of justice to the recollection of the assembly. 
The witnesses called by the complainers were three of Irving's 
closest supporters ; one, a " gifted person," who had himself 
taken a very decided part in the " interruptions " which he was 
called to prove. Thus, with wonderful and apparently causeless 
cruelty, in very strange contrast to the consideration they 
had hitherto shown him, his opponents contrived his down- 
fal by the hands of those who not only believed with him, but 
one of whom had been an actual instrument of his peril. 

On this same eventful April morning, before coming with 
those three witnesses, whom a common faith made his natural 
defenders, but whom the selection of his adversaries had chosen 
to substantiate their case against him, to the court where he 
was to take his place at the bar, a still more cruel and utterly 
unexpected blow fell upon Irving. He who, of all the prophet- 
ic speakers, had spoken with most boldness, and claimed the 
highest authority ; he who, " in the power," had expounded 






THE TRIAL. 357 

the most mysterious prophecies of the Apocalypse, and pro- 
nounced the very limit of time, the three years and a half which 
were to elapse before the witnesses were received up to hea- 
ven ; he whose utterances, only a month or two before, Irving, 
in all the assurance of utter trust, had sent to his friends that 
they too might be edified and triumph in the light which God 
was giving to his Church ; Robert Baxter came suddenly up 
from Yorkshire to intimate the total downfall of his own pre- 
tensions, and to disown the inspiration of which so short a time 
before he had convinced the troubled pastor, who for that once 
found it " hard " to believe. " I reached him on the morning 
of his appearance before the Presbytery of London," writes 
this penitent, apparently as impetuous and absolute in his re- 
nunciation as in his former claims. " Calling him and Mr J. 
Cardale apart, I told them my conviction that we had all been 
speaking by a lying spirit, and not by the Spirit of Grod." A 
most startling and grievous preface to the defence which was 
that day to be made. The little group went doubtless with 
troubled souls to that encounter, knowing well how strong a 
point this would be for their opponents, and themselves dis- 
mayed and brought to a sudden stand-still by a desertion so 
unlocked for. Had Irving' s heart been discourageable, or his 
faith less than a matter of life and death, such a blow, falling 
at such a time, might well have disabled him altogether. There 
is no trace that it had any effect upon him on that important 
day. When they had reached London Wall, and the Moderator 
of the Presbytery was opening the sitting with prayer, a mes- 
sage suddenly burst, with echoing preface of the " tongue," 
from one of the three witnesses. Perhaps it comforted that 
heart torn with many sorrows, which, when needing so emphat- 
ically all its strength, had been subject to so overwhelming a 
discouragement. At all events, it was with dignity and stead- 
fastness unbroken that Irving met the harassing and irritating 
process which now opened. 

It is impossible to give any report of this trial in the 
limited space permitted me here. It was as irrelevant, con- 
fused, and partial as an examination conducted by untrained 
and biassed judges must always be, but there is one remark- 
able feature in it which I may note in passing. The three 
witnesses examined upon oath proved, as far as a man's 
solemn asseveration can, not that unlawful and riotous inter- 
ruptions had taken place in the Regent Square church, but 
that the Holy Grhost had there spoken with demonstration and 
power. This was the real evidence elicited by the day's 
examination. Nobody attempted to impeach the men, or 



358 THE DISENCHANTED PROPHET. 

declare them unworthy of ordinary credit ; and this was the 
point which, according to the common principles of evidence, 
they united to establish. I cannot tell what might be the 
motive of the complainants for keeping back all who held their 
own view of the question, and resting their case solely upon 
the testimony of believers in the gifts ; but the fact is appar- 
ent enough, and one of the most strange features of the trans- 
action, that the witnesses, upon whom no imputation of false- 
hood was cast, consistently and solemnly agreed in proving 
an hypothesis which the court that received their testimony, 
and professed to be guided by their evidence, not only nega- 
tived summarily, but even refused to take into consideration. 
From this day's work, anxious and harassing as it natur- 
ally must have been to him, Irving went home, not to rest, 
or refresh among his loyal supporters the spirit which was 
grieved with the antagonism of his former brethren, but to 
meet with Mr Baxter, and to be assailed by that gentleman's 
eager argument to prove himself in the wrong, and attempts 
to overthrow the fabric which he had done so much to bring 
into being. " I saw him again in the evening, and on the 
succeeding morning I endeavoured to convince him of his 
error of doctrine, and of our delusions concerning the work 
of the Spirit," says the prophet, so suddenly disenchanted, 
and so vehement in his abrupt recantation, " but he was so 
shut up, he could not see either." This evening and morn- 
ing, which were vexed by Mr Baxter's arguments, might well 
have been spared to the all-labouring man, who was now to 
appear for himself at the bar of the Presbytery, and make, 
before the curious world which watched the proceedings in 
that obscure Scotch church at London "Wall, his defence and 
self-vindication. Fresh from the endeavours of Mr Baxter 
to convince him that the most cherished belief of his heart 
was a delusion, Irving once more took his way through the 
toiling city in the April sunshine which beguiles even Lon- 
don into spring looks and hopes. Little sunshine, only a 
lofty constancy and steadfast composure of faith, was in his 
heart — that heart which had throbbed with so many heroic 
hopes and knightly projects under those same uncertain 
skies. Another of the " gifted," who had woven so close a 
circle round him, had just then lost heart, and wavered like 
Baxter in her faith. With such discouragements in his way, 
and with all the suggestions of self-interest (so far as he was 
capable of them), and a hundred more delicate appeals, re- 
minders of old aifection and tender habitude, to hold him 
back to the old paths, he went to the bar of the Presbytery. 



SPEECH OF THE ACCUSER. 



359 



The speech he was to make that day must tear asunder, in irre- 
vocable disruption, the little remnant of life which remained 
to him from all the splendid past — must throw him into a 
new world, strange to all his associations, unacquainted with 
those ways of thought and habit he was born in, totally un- 
aware of the extent and bitterness of his sacrifice. The in- 
trusive apparition of the prophet penitent, declaring his own 
prophetic gift a delusion, made the strangest climax to the 
darkness, the pain, and the difficulty of the position. Irving, 
however, showed no signs of hesitation — betrayed no tumult 
in his mind. His faith was beyond the reach even of such a 
blow ; and, in full possession of all that natural magnificence 
of diction, noble reality, and power of moving men's hearts, 
which even his enemies could not resist, he presented himself 
to make his defence. 

His speech, which is too long to quote, and which was in- 
terrupted two or three times by hot discussions and calls to 
order, was replied to on the same day by Mr Mann, the 
spokesman of the trustees, who " considered it his duty to 
reply to the unseemly and untimely denunciations with which 
he was bold to say the reverend defender had attempted to 
stem the torrent of justice." After this the court adjourned 
for a week, during the course of which the "reverend de- 
fender " thus assailed went on with those labours which one 
of his friends calls "unexampled," in no way withdrawing 
from his wonderful exertions, preparing, with all the cate- 
chisings and preparatory services usual before a Scotch com- 
munion, for the celebration of the Lord's Supper. On the 
following Wednesday the Presbytery again assembled ; and, 
with a gleam of magnanimity, in consideration of the fact 
that Irving had no appeal from their decision, but — contrary 
to Presbyterian usage, which, had he been in Scotland, would 
have permitted him a double appeal to the Provincial Synod 
and the (xeneral Assembly — must accept their sentence as 
final, offered bim the privilege of answering the speech of Mr 
Mann, which he did accordingly in an impassioned and noble 
oration, still more intense, because more personal, than the 
former ; thrilling with all the indignation, the grief, the faith 
absolute and immovable, the injured and mournful affection 
which rent his breast. That there are some passages in this 
splendid address where the speaker, flushed with palpable 
injustice, and angry in his righteous heart at the superficial 
basis on which a question to himself the most momentous, 
was thus injuriously set down, delivers himself of warnings 
too solemn and startling to chime in with the mild phrase- 



360 irving's reply. 

ology of modern days, is undeniable ; but the point on which 
he insists is so plainly a necessity to any just decision of the 
matter involved, that few people who consider it seriously 
will be surprised to find that Irving is betrayed into a cer- 
tain impatience by the pertinacious determination, shown 
equally by his accusers and his judges, not to enter into the 
question by which alone the case could be decided. Such a 
singular and obstinate evasion of the real point at issue, in- 
volving as it did all his dearest interests, might well chafe 
the spirit of the meekest of men ; yet he returns again and 
again with indignant patience to the question which his 
judges refused to consider. 

" If these be the manifestations of the Holy Ghost/ 5 he asks, " what 
court under heaven would dare to interpose and say they shall not be 
suffered to proceed ? Tell me if that body does exist on the face of 
the earth which would dare to rule it so if they believed the "work to be 
of the Holy Ghost ? Surely not in the Christian Church does such a 
body exist. Therefore the decision must entirely depend on this : 
whether it be of the Holy Ghost, or whether it be not of the Holy 
Ghost. For if it be, who dare gainsay it ? Will any one say, if it be 
of the Holy Ghost, that any rule of discipline or statute of the Church, 
supposing the statutes were sevenfold strong instead of being none at 
all — for on this subject the canons of the Church of Scotland are en- 
tirely silent — will any one dare to say that if it be the voice of the 
Holy Ghost, all laws and statutes in which, during the days of her 
ignorance, the Church might have sought to defend herself against the 
entering in of the Spirit of God, should be allowed to keep Him out ? 
And is it possible that the Presbytery should shuffle off the burden of 
this issue, and act upon the assertion made that it is not the matter of 
doctrine which is to be entered into ; the more when the evidence 
upon the table is unanimous to this point, that it is the voice of the 
Holy Ghost?" 

After this most just protest, he descends to enter the lists 
with his accusers upon their own ground, and asserts that 
" there is not one word in the standards against the thing I 
have done ; " the fact being that the only reference in those 
documents, according to the admission of the Presbytery 
themselves, is a statement in the "Westminster Confession, 
that the " extraordinary " offices of apostle, prophet, &c, had 
ceased — a statement which the earlier Book of Discipline, 
the authority of which the Church of Scotland had never re- 
pudiated, limits by the more modest suggestion, that " they 
may be revived if the Lord sees good." After this Irving 
enters into a most remarkable discussion of the character of 
the prophetic office, and the possibility of a prophet deceiving 
himself by attempting to make an arbitrary interpretation of 



THE PROPHETIC CHARACTER. 361 

the Divine message he utters ; in which he takes as his text 
the singular utterance of the prophet Jeremiah — " Lord, 
Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived " — and proceeds 
to elucidate a character which most of his hearers believed 
utterly extinct, with all the close and intense observation 
which distinguished him ; and with a lofty, visionary reason- 
ableness which, could the character itself be but granted real 
and existent, would make this an exposition of high meta- 
physical value. In the course of this singular and close 
picture of the prophetic temperament and its perils, he re- 
fers in the following terms to Baxter, whose name was by 
this time discussed everywhere, and whose desertion was the 
heaviest possible blow in the eves of the public to the new 
faith. 

" A dear friend of my own," said Irving, coming fresh from that 
troublesome and impetuous friend's remonstrances and recantation, 
"who lately spake by the Spirit of God in my Church — as all the spirit- 
ual of the church fully acknowledged, and almost all acknowledge still 
— I mean Mr Baxter, whose name is in everybody's mouth, hath, I be- 
lieve, been taken in this very snare of endeavouring to interpret by 
means of a mind remarkably formal in its natural structure the spirit- 
ual utterances which he was made to give forth ; and perceiving a want 
of concurrence between the word and the fulfilment, he hastily said, ' It 
is a lying spirit by which I have spoken. 5 No lie is of the truth ; no 
prophet is a liar ; and if the thing came not to pass, he hath spoken 
presumptuously. But while this is true, it is equally true that no pro- 
phet since the world began has been able to interpret the time, place, 
manner, and circumstance of the fulfilment of his own utterances. And 
to Jeremiah thus unwarrantably employing himself, God seemed to be a 
deceiver and a liar, as the Holy Ghost hath seemed to be to my honoured 
and beloved friend, whom may the Lord speedily restore again." 

The orator then, leaving this mysterious subject — to his 
exposition of which his audience seems to have listened in 
rapt silence, probably too much carried away by the strange 
influence of his faith, and the life-like personality in which 
he clothed this unbelievable prophetic ideal, to object — re- 
turns to the more personal question, and bursts forth in 
natural and manful indignation. " I was taxed with dis- 
honesty," he exclaims, "and I was told if I was an honest 
man I ought to have gone forth of the Church. Let me re- 
press the feeling that riseth in my bosom, while I repel the 
insinuation ; for I must not speak out of the resentment of 
nature, but out of the charity of grace. Dishonesty! if it 
be such a moot point and simple case of honesty and dis- 
honesty, why trouble they the Presbytery to consider it ? . . . 
It is a great and grave question affecting the rights of the 



362 TEMPTED TO WITHDRAW FROM THE CONTEST. 

ministers and prophets of the Christian Church ; a question 
of the most deep and sacred importance ; a question not of 
discipline only, but of doctrine ; and is a question of doctrine 
and of discipline, and of ordinance and of personal right, to be 
called a question of common honesty, as if I were a knave ? " 
Then changing, as he could, with the highest intuition of har- 
mony, the stops of that noble organ, the great preacher falls 
into the strain of self-exposition, so full of simple grandeur, 
with which he was wont to reveal the working of his own 
candid soul and tender heart. 

" This is a temptation which has come over my brethren, arising 
from their loose and unholy way of thinking and speaking upon this 
subject, as if it were a common bargain between the trustees upon the 
one hand and myself upon the other. I would it had been such; 
neither they nor you would have been troubled with it this day. For 
the world is wide, and the English tongue is widely diffused over it ; 
and I am used to live by faith, and love my calling as a preacher of the 
Gospel as well as I do my calling of a pastor. I also have been tempted 
with the like temptation of making this a matter of personal feeling. 
One whole day, I remember, before meeting the elders and deacons of 
my church, upon the first breaking out of this matter, I abode in the 
mind of giving way to my own feelings, and saying to them, ' Brethren, 
we have abidden now for so many years in love and unity, never, or 
hardly once, dividing on any question, that rather than cause divisions 
which I see cannot be avoided, I will take my leave of you, and betake 
myself to other quarters and other labours in the Church. And do you 
seek out for some one to come and stand in my room, to go in and out 
before this great people, and rule over them, for I can no longer be 
faithful to God, and preserve the body in peace and unity. I cannot 
find in my heart to grieve you ; let me alone and entreat me not ; I 
will go and preach the Gospel in other parts, whither God may call me.' 
In this mood, which these men* would call honest and honourable — 
which I call selfish and treacherous to my Lord and Master — I did 
abide for the greater part of the most important day of my life, where- 
of the evening was to determine this great question; but the Lord 
showed me before the hour came — He showed me, with whom alone 
I took counsel in the secret place of my own heart, that I was not a 
private man to do what liked me best, but the pastor of a church, to 
consider their well-being, and the minister of Christ, to whom I must 
render an account of my stewardship. I put away the temptation 
and went up in the strength of the Lord to contend with the men 
whom I loved as my own bowels ; and to tell them, face to face, that I 
would displease every one of them, yea, and hate every one of them, if 

* In justice to the speaker on the other side, it ought, however, to be 
noted here that Irving seems to have mistaken his meaning, which I presume 
to be the ordinary, arbitrary, and easy conclusion, that when a clergyman 
expands or alters his views, so as under any interpretation to vary from the 
laws of his Church, scrupulous honour would dictate his withdrawal from its 
communion ; a notion very specious upon the face of it. 



PREFERS HIS DUTY AS A PASTOR TO HIS OWN FEELINGS. 363 

need should be, rather than flinch an iota from my firm and rooted pur- 
pose to live and die for Jesus. God only knows the great searchings of 
heart that there have been within me for the divisions of the Kirk- 
session and flock of the National Scotch Church. But they have root- 
ed and grounded me in my standing as a pastor, which I had under- 
stood but never practised before, and in the subordinate standing of an 
elder, which is very little understood in the Church of Scotland, whereof 
I am a minister. And they have knit me to my flock in a bond which 
cannot be broken until God do break it. I preferred my duty as a 
pastor to my feelings as a man, and abode in my place. And what hath 
the faithfulness and bounty of my God yet done ? Within six months 
thereafter, by the preaching of the Word and the witness of the Spirit, 
there were added two hundred members to the Church ; not a few of 
whom were converted from the depths of immorality and vice to become 
holy and God-fearing men ; and as I sat yesterday in my vestry for 
nearly five hours examining applicants for the liberty of sitting down 
with my contemned and rejected church, I thought within myself, 'Ah ! 
it was good thou stoodest here in the place where the Lord had planted 
thee, and wentest not forth from hence at the bidding of thine own 
troubled heart. Behold what a harvest God hath given thee in this 
time of shaking ! Wait on thy Lord, and be of good courage ; com- 
mit thy way unto Him ; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass/ 
These were my thoughts, I do assure you, no farther gone than yester- 
day, when I sat wearied out with the number and weight of the cases 
which were brought before me in my pastoral vocation. And for your 
encouragement, ye ministers of Christ who sit here in judgment, that 
ye may labour with good hopes in this city, through good report and 
through bad report, and that ye may not put your hands rashly upon 
the man of God, I do give you to wit that by my labours in this city, 
not hundreds, but thousands, at least upwards of a thousand, have been 
converted by my ministry ; and I feel an assurance that, let men do their 
utmost to prevent it, thousands more will yet by the same feeble and 
worthless instrument be brought into the fold of the Father, out of 
which no power shall be able to pluck them. I have no bargain with 
these trustees. I am not their pensioner, nor bound to them by any 
obligation, nor indebted to them in any matter, that they should charge 
dishonesty upon me. I am another man's servant, another man's 
debtor. ... If this deed to which they have obliged themselves, com- 
pel them to raise an action against me before this Presbytery, then let 
them do it, and leave the issue to the competent judges ; but do not let 
them dare to accuse their minister as a dishonest man, because he sees 
it his* duty to his Master to abide where his Master hath placed him, 
and where he hath offended neither against the ordinances of God nor 
the covenants of man." 

Thus, in his most characteristic strain, did Irving make 
his defence ; not without frequent reference to the great 
point of the first day's proceedings, which was the refusal of 
the Presbytery to permit his appeal to the Scriptures, a re- 
solution against which he entered his solemn protest, but 



364 A LAMB OF THE FLOCK. 

which his judges, with many little interruptions of self-vin- 
dication, adhered to. "When his speech was concluded, he 
withdrew with an apology to the Presbytery for his inability 
to be present at their decisive meeting, which was to take 
place the same evening, as he had to preach that night. Be- 
fore he left the court, however, Mr Mann, the spokes- 
man of the trustees, who had vainly begged to be heard in 
reply, assailed the much-tried defender with another arrow. 
One of the prophetesses, a Miss Hall, about whom I can find 
no details, had, like Baxter, accused herself of delusion. 

" Does Mr Irving consider lie has acted fairly and honestly by the 
Presbytery," said his accuser, who seems to have lost in the heat of con- 
flict the affectionate and reverential feelings which all entertained 
towards the great preacher before this actual antagonism, with its angry 
impulses, commenced, " in not acknowledging to them that Miss Hall 
has been acting under delusion ? 

" The Moderator : That is not before the court. 

" Mr Irving : She is one of the lambs of my flock — she is carried in 
my bosom. Oh, she is one of the lambs of my flock ! and shall I bring 
one of the lambs of my flock, who may have been deluded and led astray, 
before a public court ? Never — never, while I have a pastor's heart ! " 

This exclamation of natural feeling moved the general 
audience out of propriety. It was received with involuntary 
applause, which seems to have led to the immediate adjourn- 
ment of the offended court. 

In the evening the Presbytery met again to determine 
upon their sentence — a sentence on the nature of which no- 
body could have any doubt, if it were not the generous soul 
of the accused himself, who "could not endure to think" 
that they would decide against him. Five clerical members 
of the court spoke one after another, announcing with such 
solemnity as they could their several but unanimous conclu- 
sion. I have no desire to represent these men as judging 
unfairly, or as acting in this new matter upon their own well- 
known prior conclusions. But the fact is remarkable, in a 
country so familiar as ours with all the caution and minute 
research of law, that the judgment of this Presbytery, in- 
volving, as it did, not only the highest privileges of Christian 
freedom, but practical matters of property and income, ut- 
tered itself in the shape of so many opinions as loose, slight, 
and irregular as might be the oracles of a fireside conclave. 
To people who are accustomed to see the columns of news- 
papers filled day after day with close, lengthened, and it may 
be tedious, arguments concerning the true meaning of the 
articles of the Church, it will be almost inconceivable that 



THE CHARACTER OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP. 365 

any decision, bearing weight in law, could be come to upon 
grounds so trivial : yet such was the case ; and the extraor- 
dinary recklessness which could stake an honourable man's 
character and position upon the opinions or impressions of a 
group of fellow-clergymen, supported by the merest shreds 
of quotation from those articles by which, and by which 
alone, they professed to be guided, has never, so far as I am 
aware, been so much as remarked by the community most 
interested. If he was to be judged by the standards of the 
Church it must be apparent to every one that the merest su- 
perficial rules of justice required a close examination of those 
standards, a patient and detailed scrutiny, care being had to 
arrive at the true meaning, and to put aside the individual and 
local circumstances which so evidently and avowedly colour 
those productions of a belligerent age. Had the matter 
been argued before a civil court, it might indeed have been 
decided that the proceedings complained of were contrary to 
the usage of the Church of Scotland, no doubt an important 
point — but it must have been satisfactorily established that 
no ecclesiastical law * forbade them, and that no direct or- 
dinance of the Church had been in any way transgressed. 

At the same time, while this is very evidently the case, it 
is necessary to admit that the spiritual manifestations then 
taking place in Irving' s church were, though contrary to no 
ecclesiastical canon, yet thoroughly contrary to the character 
and essence of Presbyterian worship ; and that only the ex- 
istence, not to be hoped for, of an imperturbable judicial 
mind, resolute in the majesty of law, and beyond the influ- 
ence of feeling, in the court that judged him, could have 
made a different result possible. Those outbursts of pro- 
phetic voices, exciting and unexpected, were palpably at the 
wildest variance with the rigid decorums of that national 
worship which has so carefully abstracted everything which 
can influence either imagination or sense from its austere 
services. And a body of men trained to the strictest ob- 
servance of this affronted order of worship, totally unaccus- 
tomed to the exactitude of law, and important in the exer- 
cise of an authority which they would have unanimously de- 
clared it an infraction of Christ's sovereignty in His Church 
had any qualified adviser attempted to guide, were scarcely 
to be supposed so superior to Presbyterial precedent as to 
conduct this trial on the cautious principles of civil equity. 

* That this is the case, and that no such rigid adherence to the proprieties 
of custom binds the Church when she chooses to be tolerant, might be proved 
by the many irregularities permitted in connection with the late " revivals." 



366 DECISION OF THE PRESBYTERY. 

They quoted ecclesiastical law as uninstructed controversial- 
ists quote texts, by way of giving a certain vague authority 
to their own opinions, but the idea of examining scrupulously 
what that law really enforced and meant, or wherein the ac- 
tions of the accused were opposed to it, never seems to have 
entered the minds of the hasty Presbyters. The Confessions 
of Eaith and Books of Discipline, to which Irving referred 
so often, had in fact nothing to do with the matter. Apart 
from all disputed doctrine and irritated theological temper, 
a simple matter of fact, visible to all the world, had to be 
dealt with ; a startling novelty had suddenly disturbed the 
sober composure of the Scotch Church, which was no way to 
be reconciled with its habitual reserve and gravity, and 
somehow had to be got rid of. Scotch observers looking 
back at the present moment, regretful of the necessity, still 
ask — what could they do ? And I cannot tell what they 
could have done, except examine, and wait, and tolerate— 
three things which the national temperament finds more diffi- 
cult than any action or exertion. " I do not dissent from 
your assertion that the Scotch consistory had no choice but 
to expel Irving from the body," writes the Eev. F. D. 
Maurice. " I do not say that the authorities of the English 
Church, if they had (unhappily) the same kind of jurisdic- 
tion, might not, or may not, exercise it in the same manner. 
But I know few signs which (in the latter case) I should 
deem so sure a prognostic of coming desolation." The Scotch 
mind, much less tolerant and more absolute than the English, 
that same mind which makes it by times a " unanimous hero 
nation," had already learned to make abrupt settlement of 
such questions ; and, unless the Presbytery had been content 
to wait with Gramaliel and see whether this thing was of God 
or not, the decision they came to was the only one to be 
looked for from them. But the laws of the Church, those 
standards which they themselves set up as the ultimate re- 
ference, had absolutely nothing at all to do with the matter. 
The verdict was as follows : — 

Therefore this Presbytery, having seriously and deliberately con- 
sidered the said complaint and the evidence adduced, together with the 
statements made in court by the said Eev. Edward Irving, and acting 
under a deep and solemn sense of their responsibility to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, as the great Head of the Church, do find that the charges in 
said complaint are fully proven ; and therefore, while deeply deploring 
the painful necessity thus imposed upon them, they did and hereby do, 
decern that the said Rev. Edward Irving has rendered himself unfit to 
remain the minister of the National Scotch Church aforesaid, and ought 



TRIUMPH OF THE PRESS. 367 

to be removed therefrom, in pursuance of the conditions of the trust- 
deed of the said church. 

" James Reid Bkowk, 
" Moderator of the Presbytery of the Established 
Church of Scotland in London." 

The following morning had scarcely dawned, when the 
triumphant press echoed and celebrated this decision. Never 
before was a Presbytery out of Scotland so watched and so 
applauded. The Times itself opened with a discharge of its 
great guns, in honour of the victory, devoting a leading 
article to the subject. 

" The blasphemous absurdities which have for some months past 
been enacted in the Caledonian Church, Regent Square," says the lead- 
ing journal, "are now, we trust, brought to au effectual conclusion. 
The Scotch Presbytery in London, who are, by the trust-deed of the 
chapel, appointed to decide on any alleged departure of its minister 
from the standards of the Kirk of Scotland, to which, by the same deed, 
he is sworn to adhere, last night, after a laborious investigation, 
declared that the fooleries which he had encouraged or permitted were 
inconsistent with the doctrine and discipline of the Scotch National 
Establishment. It would, indeed, have been a subject of wonder had 
they come to a different conclusion, though they had had the benefit of 
a concert upon the ' tongues ' from the whole male and female band of 
Mr Irving's select performers. So long as the rev. gentleman occupied 
the stage himself," continues this great authority in religious doctrine, 
" he was heard with patience — perhaps, sometimes with pity : . . . , 
but when he entered into partnership with knaves and impostors, to 
display their concerted ' manifestations ' — when he profaned the sanc- 
tuary of God, by introducing hideous interludes of ' the unknown 
tongues,' it was impossible any longer to tolerate the nuisance." 

Such terms had Irving, with his lofty sense of honour 
and chivalrous truthfulness, to hear applied to himself, and 
to endure. The Record, with milder but not less triumphant 
satisfaction, follows in a similar strain, emphasizing its rejoic- 
ing by congratulating its readers, not only upon Baxter's re- 
cantation, but upon the timely withdrawal of Irving's assistant 
and missionary from the falling house — that gentleman having 
not only had his eyes opened to the delusion of the gifts, but 
also to the " awful heresy in regard to our Lord's humanity, 
which it has been the privilege of this journal steadfastly to 
resist." Such were the paeans with which the perfectly 
illogical and indefensible decision of the London Presbytery 
was received in the outside world ; and such the accompani- 
ments with which this heavy blow fell upon Irving. The 
assistant who deserted him at so painful a crisis, had been his 
companion for but a short time, and appears but little either 



368 CLOSING OF THE CHURCH. 

in the history of the struggle, or in those all-demonstrative 
letters in which Irving, incapable of concealment, reveals his 
heart and soul. 

It is a relief to turn from all this misrepresentation and 
injustice ; from the reckless Presbyters who refused to ex- 
amine either their own law or the real question at issue ; 
from the contemptuous journalists, to whom this matter was 
only one of the wonders of the day, a fanaticism as foreign 
and unintelligible as heaven ; from disenchanted prophets 
and failing friends ; to Irving himself, spending the next day 
after, morning and evening and at noon, in the labours and 
devotions of that dedicated day preparatory to the com- 
munion, which Scottish piety still calls par excellence the 
Fast-day, totally as the ordinance of fasting has disappeared 
from the nation. He did not intermit those services, although 
it was now uncertain whether the church would be open to 
him on the next Sunday for the celebration of the sacrament. 
" The tokens* were given, to be kept (if not delivered up on 
Sunday), as a bond of union till such time as the Lord shall 
guide the flock to some other place of refuge," writes a lady, 
whose diffuse woman's letter deepens into momentary pathos 
when, speaking of Irving in that day's services, she exclaims, 
" I verily believe he offered to Grod the sacrifice of a broken 
heart." It was the last sacrifice of his ever to be offered in 
that place where "the ashes of his children rested," as he 
himself mournfully said. The next morning, in the early 
May sunshine, before the world was half awake, the daily 
congregation gathering to their matins, found the gates of the 
church closed upon them. Perhaps it was that " wrath with 
those we love," working " like madness in the brain," the 
bitter anger of a brother offended, which moved the trustees 
to so abrupt a use of their power. " I strongly urged them 
to allow the church to remain open till after the dispensation 
of the sacrament," writes Mr Hamilton, who had been a sad 
spectator throughout, specially intimating his non-concur- 
rence, as being himself a trustee, in the complaint of the 
others, although unable in conscience to offer any opposition 
to them ; " but they refused to do so, on the ground that, as 
they could not conscientiously join with Edward themselves, 
they would thereby be deprived, under the provisions of the 
trust-deed, from having a voice in the election of a future 

* Admission to the communion being in the Scotch Church hedged in 
with many restrictions, it is customary to distribute these " tokens " before 
every observance of the ordinance, without which no one is admitted to the 
" fenced" and guarded table. 



gray's inn road. 369 

minister ; and also, because it would bring a great accession 
of friends to Edward" — two hundred new members, accord- 
ing to the same authority, having applied for admission ; so 
they put an arbitrary stop to all the multiplied services with 
which the Church of Scotland prefaces its communion, and 
just as the sacred table was about to be spread, silently pro- 
hibited that solemn farewell feast, and left the large congre- 
gation, with its two hundred new members, to seek what ac- 
commodation it could find in the two days which intervened. 
They found it in a place of which the Morning Watch de- 
clares, " Nothing could be more repugnant to the judgment, 
taste, and feeling of all the members, than the asylum to 
which they were driven. A barn or a cowshed would have 
been preferable, but none such were to be obtained." This 
was a large room in Gray's Inn Boad, occupied at other 
times by the well-known Robert Owen, and which was not 
only desecrated by that association, but too small to hold 
the large body of Irving' s adherents. In this place, however, 
in that dismal centre of London life, the holy feast was held 
on the 6th of May, by almost the entire church, about eight 
hundred communicants ; and here, for some months, the more 
solemn services of the church were celebrated ; while Irving 
preached out of doors in various places, sometimes in Britan- 
nia Fields, sometimes in Islington Green, to the multitudes 
who assembled wherever his presence was known. 

Such was the first step he had to make in that new world, 
outside what his followers call " the splendid towers of Re- 
gent Square," outside the ancient circle of companions and 
counsellors who had deserted him. Of the pangs of that 
parting he henceforth says not a word ; but goes on in sad 
grandeur, feeling to the depths of his heart all the fulness of 
the change. Between the church he had founded and watched 
over as stone upon stone it had grown into being, and round 
which, in his fond imagination, the venerable prestige of the 
Church of his fathers had always hovered, and the big room 
in that squalid London street, where foolish-benevolent Un- 
belief shared the possession with him, and played its frivolous 
pranks of philanthropy under the same roof which echoed 
his religious voice, amid all the sneers of the prejudiced world 
outside — what a difference was there ! But after the strug- 
gles of the so-called " trial " were over, not a word of com- 
plaint or reproach comes to his lips ; he proceeds with those 
" unexampled labours." Multitudes stand hushed before him 
on those summer days, as on the parched suburban grass, or 
under the walls of the big prison, he preaches the gospel of 

24 



370 THE LOST CHILD. 

his Master, with an eloquence deeper and richer, a devotion 
more profound and perfect, than when the greatest in the 
land crowded to his feet, and all that was most wise and most 
fair in society listened and thrilled to his prophet voice. But 
not his now the prophet voice ; by his side, or in the crowd 
near him, is some obscure man or woman, to hear whom, 
when the burst of utterance comes upon them, the great 
preacher pauses with rapt looks and ear intent ; for that 
utterance, because he believes it to be the voice of G-od, he 
has borne " reproach, casting out, deprivation of everything, 
save life itself," writes one of his female relatives, with ag- 
grieved and pathetic indignation ; and there he stands in the 
unconscious splendour of his humility, offering magnificent 
thanks when those strange ejaculations give, what he believes 
a confirmation from heaven, to the word he has been teach- 
ing ; a sight, if that voice were true, to thrill the universe ; 
a sight, if that voice were false, to make angels weep with 
utter love and pity ; any way, whether true or false, an atti- 
tude than which anything more noble and affecting has never 
been exhibited by man to men. 

One of those out-doors sermons was distinguished by a 
thoroughly characteristic and beautiful incident. It was 
shortly after his ejection from Regent Square, on a summer 
Sunday morning, when surrounded by a little band of his 
own people, and raised in " a temporary pulpit or platform 
made for his use by one of his flock," Irving was preaching 
to the dense crowd which had gathered round him. The 
subject of his discourse was, as the lady from whom I have 
the information believes, that doctrine of regeneration in 
baptism with which so many pangs of parental love and an- 
guish were associated in his mind. Suddenly he was inter- 
rupted by an appeal from the crowd ; a child had been lost 
in the throng by its parents, and was now held up by the 
stranger who had extricated it, and who wanted to know 
what he should do with the forlorn little creature. " Grive 
me the child," said the preacher ; and with difficulty, through 
the multitude, the lost infant was brought to him. "Mr 
Irving stretched out his arms for it," says my informant, 
" and in a moment it was nestling (just as we used to see his 
own little baby do), with the most perfect confidence and 
contentment, against his broad shoulder. It was a poor 
child, and poorly clothed, but he was not the man to love it 
less on that account. We shall none of us ever forget the 
wonderful manner in which Mr Irving could hold an infant. 
This one appeared to be perfectly happy from the moment it 



THE SCOTCH PSALMS. 371 

was in his arms, while he continued to preach with as much 
ease and freedom as before, and interweaving at once into 
his discourse (to which it was, of course, most appropriate), 
our Lord's own lesson about the little children, made this 
little one as it were the text of his last clauses, which he pro- 
longed considerably ; when he had concluded, in his final 
prayer and blessing, he particularly prayed for and blessed 
' the little child ; ' and after the psalm had been sung, he 
beckoned to the parents, who (as he had intended) had seen 
it from the time he took it into his arms, to come and receive 
it back." The affectionate writer goes on, with a little out- 
burst of that loving recollection which brings tears to the 
eyes and a tremor to the voice of every one who remembers 
Irving, to say that in his lifetime they " hardly dared to 
speak or think of those natural gifts which had, previously 
to his more spiritual ministry, gained for him the praises of 
the world." But now, at a distance of thirty years, his 
friends can venture to recall the picture — that figure almost 
gigantic, with the lost baby " literally cradled " in his arms ; 
the summer heavens blazing above ; the breathless crowd 
below ; the solemn harmony of that matchless voice, full of all 
the intonations of eloquence, to which nobody could listen un- 
moved ; and that living sign of a tenderness which embraced 
all helpless things, the love with which his forlorn heart, 
wounded to its depths, yearned to its brethren. " An intense 
sunshine bathed the whole," concludes the lady, whose notes I 
have quoted. Under that sunshine, in fervid midsummer, silent 
thousands stood and listened. This was now the only means 
remaining to Irving of communication with the outside world. 
And in these preachings, with but here and there a scat- 
tered individual who retained, or ever had known, allegiance 
to the Church of Scotland near him — and in the room in 
Gray's Inn Road — and still more strangely in the chapel 
where the Rev. Nicholas Armstrong, not long before a clergy- 
man of the English Church, and of fervent Irish blood, estab- 
lished the first dependent congregation of the new sect — one 
sign of Irving' s influence, as remarkable as it is affecting, ac- 
companied the services. So far as the London Presbytery 
could do it, the great preacher had been cast out of the 
Church of his fathers — he had been pronounced unfit to oc- 
cupy any longer a pulpit bound to the Church of Scotland ; 
but wherever Irving' s friends and followers sang the praises 
of God, it was that rugged version of the Psalms of David 
which we, in Scotland, know from our cradles, and — all poetic 
considerations out of the question — cherish to our graves, 



372 ISLINGTON GREEN. 

which ascended from the lips of the unaccustomed crowd. 
Those rugged measures, by times grand in their simplicity, 
by times harsh and unmelodious as only translated lyrics can 
be, which cheered the death-passion of the Covenanter, and 
which Carlyle, with an almost fantastic loyalty (in rebellion) 
to the faith that cradled him, puts into the mouths of his 
mediaeval monks, Irving, in actual reality, put into the 
mouths of his English followers. When his bold disciples 
interposed their Grospel into the din of every-day life in the 
heart of London, and preached at Charing- Cross, in the heat 
of the laborious hours, it was not the smooth hymns of 
modern piety, but the strange songs of a sterner faith, which 
mingled with the confused noises of the life-battle. To find 
those harsh old verses, sometimes thrilling with an heroic 
touch, but at all times as unlike the effusions of devotion in 
our days as can well be conceived, preserved amid records of 
" manifestations " and sermons, upon neither the speakers 
nor the hearers of which they had the least claim of associa- 
tion, is a singular memorial of the affectionate reverence with 
which all his followers regarded Irving. I cannot tell how 
long this lasted;* but in these days of excitement and com- 
motion, when the expelled church had no refuge, but snatched 
its solemn celebrations in the obnoxious concert-room which 
Robert Owen shared, and wandered out about those noisy 
suburbs to find space for its preaching, it is always the old 
Psalms of Scotland which rise quaint and strange upon the 
air, used to smoother, if not to nobler, measures. And 
throughout this summer, there is a continual changing of 
scene and place. The old green of Islington, swallowed up 
out of all village semblance in the noisy centre of population, 
the still less pleasant space overshadowed by Clerkenweli 
prison, nay, even as we have said, Charing- Cross, which some- 
times in insular arrogance we call the centre of the world, 
all saw the wondering nucleus of devoted worshippers, the 
gathering crowd, the preaching Evangelist. 

Nor was there always the same veneration shown even to 
the great preacher himself, as in the instance we have quoted. 
The newspapers of the day mention a threatened assault upon 
him by the Jews, to whom he had preached in G-oodman's 
Fields ; and he himself refers to the presence of " a multitude 
of strangers and gazers," who " have insulted me, and do insult 
me daily. While, at the same time, he desires the prayers of 

* I am told that their use was continued for several years, until the 
system of chanting the Psalms in the prose version, as in the Church of 
England, was adopted. 



PRINCELY HOSPITALITY. 373 

the Church " for two brethren, now lying in prison," who were 
suffering for their zeal in this respect. The newspapers, in the 
mean time, were full of sneers and contemptuous self-congratu- 
lations on having foreseen the depths of the "foolery " into which 
this new fanaticism had fallen ; but I cannot help thinking that 
this summer conveyed, amid the labours that refreshed his soul, 
a little repose to Irving, who, at last, was done with all the 
harassing cares of daily contest — the struggle with his friends. 
It was over now ; and if deserted on many sides, he was com- 
paratively unmolested. After the morning services, the wor- 
shippers poured into his house, which was still in Judd Place, 
and which, in that moment of transition, had no certain provision 
even for its own necessities, and crowded round the breakfast 
table, where the man who knew how to live by faith, exercised, 
as Mr Drummond described to me, " a princely hospitality." 
During the entire summer, the Morning Watch informs us, the 
members of the expelled church had been " indefatigable in 
seeking to purchase, hire, or build a chapel." None eligible 
offered for the former purpose, and when it was resolved to 
erect a building, and money had been collected towards defray- 
ing the expense, the Spirit expressly forbade it, saying " that 
the Lord would provide in His own time." And, in fact, a place 
adaptable for the purpose was found in the beginning of autumn, 
in the large picture gallery which had belonged to West, the 
painter, and which was attached to his house, in Newman 
Street ; where, accordingly, after a little interval, the changed 
congregation established itself, remodelled and reorganized. 

That was a year almost as momentous and exciting to the 
nation at large as it was to Irving and his people. It was the 
year of the Reform Bill, and half the periodical literature of the 
day was awful in prognostications which one reads now-a-days 
with incredulous smiles ; and still more closely interesting and 
important, it was the year of the cholera, when men's hearts 
were failing them for fear of the uncomprehended plague, which 
stole, insidious and sudden, alike through crowded streets and 
quiet villages. In the June number of the Morning Watch 
appears a letter from Irving, touching an attack of this malady 
to which he himself had been subject, and the manner in which 
he had surmounted it — which is remarkable, as all his letters 
are, for the simple and minute picture it gives of his own heart 
and emotions. 

The idea that disease itself was sin, and that no man with 
faith in his Lord ought to be overpowered by it, was one of the 
principles which began to be adopted by the newly-separated 
community. 



374 HOW TO OVERCOME DISEASE BY FAITH. 

" To the Editor of the Morning Watch. 

" My deau Friend, — As you have asked me to give you an account 
of the gracious dealings of our Heavenly Father with me, His unworthy 
servant, on the occasion of my being seized with what was in all appear- 
ance, and to the conviction of medical men, when described to them, 
seemed to be that disease which has proved fatal to so many of our fel- 
low-creatures in this and other lands, 1 sit down to do so with much 
gratitude of heart to my God, who enabled me to hold fast my confidence 
in Him, and who did not forsake me when I trusted in Him, nor suffer 
the adversary to triumph over me, but gave me power, through faith in 
Christ my risen Head, to overcome him when he endeavoured, by his 
assault in my flesh, to shake my faith in my God, and to prevent me from 
fulfilling that day to two different congregations the office of a minister 
of Christ. ... I feel I ought to mention that, on the evening preceding 
my attack, I had preached from the words in the 12th of 1 Cor., ' To 
another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.' I was led in discourse 
to show out to my flock that the standing of the members of Christ was 
to be without disease, and that this had ever been the standing of God's 
people. . . . And I added that if disease did come upon them, as in 
the case of Job, it was either for chastening for some sin, whether in 
themselves or in the body of Christ, for God ever views us as one, .or per- 
mitted as a trial of our faith. Having stated these things out fully, I 
exhorted the saints of God before me to live by faith continually on 
Jesus for the body as well as the soul. ... Or should their faith be put 
to the test by disease, I entreated them to hold fast their confidence and 
to plead the Lord's own many and gracious promises to the members of 
His Church, and in faith to go about the occupations which in His 
providence they were called to perform, ever bearing in mind that what- 
soever they did should be for His glory, and that I had no doubt but 
they would ever experience that the Lord honoured their faith in His 
word. 

" On the following morning I arose in perfect health, at the usual 
hour, and was in the church by half-past six o'clock. During the prayer- 
meeting I began to feel pain, but was able to go through the service. A 
number of friends accompanied me home to breakfast. On reaching 

home, I became very chill, and had very severe pain After resting 

awhile I felt a little relieved, and entered the room where my friends 
were, and sat down by the fire, unable to taste anything. The hour's 
pain I had endured, and the other trial of my constitution, had even 
then had such an effect on my frame that my appearance shocked my 
friends. I could take no interest in the conversation going forward, but 
endeavoured to lift up my heart to my God, having a presentiment that 
I was called upon to show forth the faith which I had on the preced- 
ing evening been led to exhort my people to have in their heavenly 
Father. In the strength of God I proceeded, when my friends had fin- 
ished breakfast, to conduct family worship, which I was enabled to do 
though my body was so enfeebled that I could neither kneel nor stand, 
having tried both positions, but had to sit while I prayed. I then re- 
tired to my own room, in order to search myself in the presence of God, to 
confess my sins, to cast myself entirely on the mercy of my Father, and 



VICTORY OVER THE BODY. 375 

io seek for strength to perform the duties of that day, having to preach 
that forenoon at half-past eleven o'clock, and again in the evening at 
seven. I was now very sick, with a feeling of wringing or gnawing pain 
through ray whole body. ... I was so weak that I could not sit up, and 
in sore pain, with a painful chill all over my body. I therefore wrapped 
me up in blankets and laid me on my bed, desiring to be left alone un- 
til a few minutes before the time for setting out for the house of God, 
where I should minister to His people. My orders were obeyed, and 
my wish attended to. My wife entered my room about a quarter-past 
eleven o'clock. I felt so exhausted that I did not attempt to speak to 
her. She saw my weakness and spoke not, but hurried down-stairs to 
prepare a little arrowroot and brandy for me, and to desire that my fel- 
low-labourer, the missionary of our church, should go and take my place, 
as she thought there was little hope of my reaching the church at the 
hour when the service should commence. When my wife had left the 
room, though I was no better, I said in the strength of the Lord I will 
rise and do my duty. I arose, and came down-stairs in tottering weak- 
ness, but holding fast my assurance, that though brought very low, 
the Lord would not forsake me, . . . My sunken eyes and pallid cheeks, 
and altogether my ghastly appearance, my wife afterwards told me, re- 
minded her of her grandsire of eighty-four, whose frame had been wast- 
ed with disease. . . . With slow and difficult steps, accompanied by my 
wife and a young friend, I proceeded to the Church, about a quarter of 
a mile from ray house ; and on entering, found my friend and fellow- 
labourer standing and ministering in my room. All things tempted me 
to shrink back from my office ; but I felt no hesitation to instruct mj 
faithful beadle, though he remonstrated much, to go up to the pulpit and 
inform ray brother that when he had finished the first prayer I would 
take my place, and by God's help perform my own duty. Meanwhile, I 
stretched myself on three chairs before the fire in the vestry, barely 
able to keep myself in heat, and, by perfect stillness in one position, a 
little to abate the pain. Ever as I shifted my position I endured much 
suffering, and was almost involuntarily impelled to draw up my limbs in 
order to keep the pain under. Nevertheless, when I stood up to attire 
myself for the pulpit, and went forward to ascend the pulpit stairs, the 
pains seemed to leave me. Over and over again my kind and true-heart- 
ed brother besought me to let him proceed; but my mind was made up 
to fall at my post, which I had an inward assurance my Master would 
not suffer me to do. I began to read the chapter, expecting the power 
of spiritual exposition, which was wont to abound to me in this above 
all my other services ; but to my astonishment I had no thought in my 
heart, nor word upon my lips, and felt it was all I could do to keep on 
reading. About the sixth verse my words began to be indistinct in the 
sound. I could not strike them shrill and full out ; they fell short of 
my usual utterance, all I could do. My eye became dim, and the words 
of the book looked hazy. Then my bead began to swim, and my heart 
to become faint ; and I laid hold on the pulpit-sides and looked wistful- 
ly about, wondering what was to befall me. But the most painful symp- 
tom of all was that I felt it a great effort to draw my breath. At this 
moment, when the disease was come to a crisis, and all nature was sink- 
ing down within me, I had only one feeling, for the honour of Jesus, my 



o76 STATE OF THE PUBLIC MIXD. 

Lord and Master, that He should be put to shame through my unbelief — ■ 
and that I should fall before the enemy in the place of testimony and in 
the sight of all the people. One thought, one prayer, shot across my 
spirit, which was this, ' Surely Thou, O Jesus, art stronger in my spirit 
than Satan is in my flesh ! ' That instant a cold sweat, chill as the hand 
of death, broke out all over my body, and stood in large drops upon my 
forehead and hands. From that moment I seemed to be strengthened. 
My reading, which had not been interrupted by all this, though strongly 
affected, so as to be sensible to all present, proceeded more easily to the 
end of the chapter, but all without my being able to add one word of 
exposition. Nevertheless, after the singing a few stanzas of a Psalm, I 
undertook to preach on the last verse of the 3rd chapter of John's Gos- 
pel, which came in order. According to my custom I had premeditated 
nothing, and, as hath been said, while reading the chapter found myself 
utterly incapable of originating anything. But I knew the Master whom 
I serve, and set out on His charges. Slowly and with great weakness 
the words dropped from me, and I was ill able to indite sentences or bind 
them into regular discourse ; but I gave myself to the Spirit, and went 
forward. I had not proceeded many minutes until the Holy Ghost, in 
one of the prophets, burst in upon my discourse, speaking with tongues 
and prophesying. This brought me rest and refreshing, and some of the 
words were made to me spirit and life, so that I resumed with fresh 
strength ; but still as a dead man, both in respect of body and of mind ; alive 
in respect of the Spirit. I continued my discourse for about an hour, with 
more unction, as it appeared to myself and all who spake of it, than I 
had ever preached before. After the service, I walked home and con- 
versed with my friends, and took a little simple food : expecting to 
strengthen my body for my evening duty by eating heartily at dinner. 
But God was resolved that for this day the glory of my strength should 
stand only in Him ; for I was able to eat little or nothing ; yet had more 
power given me in preaching to about two hundred poor people in a 
crowded school-room than I ever remember to have had. And next 
morning I rose to my duty before the sun, and was enabled to go for- 
ward with renewed strength unto this hour. For all which let the glory 
be given to Jehovah by His name, — ' I am the Lord God which healeth 
thee/ 

"Edwd Irving." 

The perfect simplicity of this narrative may perhaps bring 
a smile upon some faces : but I cannot pretend to offer any ex- 
cuses for a man who felt the everlasting arms always under him, 
and recognized no dull intervening world between himself and 
his Grod. The occurrence thus described evidently took place 
before his expulsion from Begent Square, and at a time when 
men's minds were highly strung, and as delicate to deal with as 
the wavering bands of an army in the first thrill of panic, which 
the merest stumble of the leader might throw into mad rout 
and destruction. Perhaps the steadfast, pallid figure, holding 
by the sides of the pulpit, and maintaining its Christian sove- 



THE " MORNING WATCH." 377 

reignty over the body and its pangs, did more than much philo- 
sophy to strengthen the hearts of the watching multitude against 
that panic which is the best aid of pestilence. 

Notwithstanding Irving's declaration that, according to his 
custom, he had premeditated nothing, he had by no means given 
up the composition of sermons ; but still, and to the end of his 
days, continued to dictate to the writing of here and there a 
joyful amanuensis, honoured to feel her female pen the medium 
of recording his high thoughts and burning exhortations. Nor 
does it appear that the " falling off," which is so commonly al- 
leged against him at this agitated period of his life, was in any 
respect more true than suppositions framed upon general pro- 
bability generally are. On the contrary, Mr Hamilton, who, 
deeply affectionate as he was, would not perhaps have been 
sorry could he have seen a momentary feebleness visible in the 
brother whose convictions carried him into paths so strange and 
dangerous, could not say that the bewilderment of the manifest- 
ations, or the undue faith with which Irving regarded them, 
had any effect upon the force and fulness of his preaching. " His 
ministrations in the pulpit," wrote this trusty witness, dating 
the 4th of May, " have for some time past been extremely 
powerful, and I believe instrumental in winning many souls to 
Christ." Certainly his few printed productions of this period 
give little sign of any decay of intellect. One of these, published 
in the Morning Watch of March, 1832, entitled, A Judgment 
upon the Decisions of the late General Assembly, contains a very 
remarkable passage in reference to the future fate of the Church 
of Scotland, which, uttered without any prophetic pomp, has 
verified itself more absolutely than any of the professedly in- 
spired predictions to which Irving himself gave such undoubt- 
ing heed : — " That the General Assembly, Synods, Presbyteries, 
and Kirk Sessions, with all the other furniture of the Church, 
are about, like the veil of the temple, to be rent in twain, or to be 
left, like the withered fig-tree, fruitless and barren, I firmly be- 
lieve, and yet would do all I could to retard it," he says ; re- 
garding steadfastly, not any premonition of a rising controversy 
about Church government, nor even the restless, absolute spirit, 
entering into a wild struggle with all the conditions of nature, 
which took so readily to deposition and anathema, — but what 
to his intent eyes was a thousand times more significant, the 
practical denial of the love of the Father, and the work of the 
Son, which he believed the Church of Scotland to be guilty of. 
After the event which has left so deep a scar upon the heart of 
Scotland, it is startling to meet with such words. 

The Morning Watch, notwithstanding its dignity as a Quar- 



378 i THE SICK CHILD. 

terly Review, and its oft-repeated declaration that the majority 
of its readers were members of the English Church, occupied 
itself, throughout those exciting months, in the most singular 
manner, with the ecclesiastical prosecution, which only the great 
fame of Irving, and the remarkable character of the spiritual 
question involved, prevented from being a merely local and in- 
dividual matter. Though a periodical of the highest class and 
most recondite pretensions, it palpitated with every change in 
the fortunes of the Regent Square church, and was as truly the 
organ of that expelled band, large as a congregation, but small 
as a community, which followed Irving, as its adversary the 
Record was the organ of English Evangelicism ; and not only 
abounded in discussions and expositions of the miraculous gifts 
and cures, and of the doctrines specially identified with Irving, 
but went so much farther as to represent " Mr Irving' 's Church 
as The Sign of the Times'' and to discuss the position of the 
body in its temporary and disagreeable refuge as " The Arh of 
God in the Temple of Dag on" Perhaps the presence in the 
new community of a man so rich, so determined, so swift and 
self-acting as Henry Drummond, sparing no cost, either of 
money or labour, — a potentate considerable enough to have an 
" organ " in his own right, — goes far to explain the possession, 
by a single Church, of a representative so magnificent as a 
Quarterly Review. 

I am not informed as to the precise period when Irving re- 
moved his family into the house in Newman Street, which in- 
cluded under the same roof the large picture gallery, hencefor- 
ward to form the meeting-place of his Church ; but, before 
going on to that, there occurs another of those anecdotes which 
his friends have hoarded up in their memories, and tell with 
tears and smiles. When he went for the first time to see this 
house, some time elapsed before he could get admission ; and 
when, at last, the man who was in charge of the place opened 
the door, he apologized for the delay, saying that he had a child 
dying upstairs. " Then, before we do anything else," said Irving, 
on the threshold of the much-desired building which might 
liberate him from Robert Owen and Gray's Inn Road, " let us 
go and pray that it may be healed." He followed the astonished 
and sorrowful custodian of the empty house up through the 
echoing staircase to the attic where the little sick-bed was, and, 
kneeling down, poured out his soul for the child, over whose 
feeble head he no doubt pronounced that blessing which dropped 
from his tender lips upon all little children. Then he returned 
to the business which had brought him there, and examined the 
extent and capabilities of the place. Some time after, he re- 



THE DESPISED IN ISRAEL. 379 

turned again with the architect who was to superintend the 
alterations, and, as soon as the door was opened, asked, How 
was the child ? The father answered with joy that it was now 
recovering. " Then, before we do anything else, let us go and 
give thanks," said the Christian priest. Hearing of such daily 
incidents, natural accompaniments of that full life, one cannot 
wonder at the exclamation which bursts from the troubled bosom 
of his sister Elizabeth, when, in a passion of mingled doubt and 
grief, she says, " There are moments when I feel as if Grod had 
deserted the Church altogether ; for if He is not in the midst 
of Mr Irving's family and flock, where is Grod to be found ? " 
Surely, amid all clouds of human imperfection, the light of His 
countenance fell fair upon that echoing empty house where his 
faithful servant gave the thanks of a prince and poet for the 
little life of the poor housekeeper's child. 

He entered into possession of his new church with high ex- 
pectations ; and then, indeed, the ancient, austere usages of the 
Church of Scotland began to yield to the presence of that gradu- 
ally rising tide of spiritual influence within. Those utterances, 
which at first had only conveyed exhortations and warnings to 
the people of Grod, had in the hands of Baxter taken an entirely 
different and much more authoritative character. Up to his time, 
the prophets, of whom the majority were women, seem only to 
have given stray gleams of edification, encouragement, and in- 
struction to the believing assembly. Baxter, on the contrary, 
carried matters with a high hand ; he not only interpreted 
prophecy, but uttered predictions ; he fixed the day and th& 
year when the " rapture of the saints " was to take place, in 
opposition to the sentiments of many of the " gifted ; " and if 
he did not positively assert his own call to be an apostle, at 
least intimated it with more or less distinctness. Nor was this 
all ; he also declared in " the power," that the Church no longer 
retained the privilege of ordaining, and that all spiritual offices 
were henceforth to be filled by the gifted, or by those specially 
called, through the gifted, by the Spirit of God. Before the 
opening of the Newman Street church, it is true, the prophet 
himself had published the wonderful narrative, in which he re- 
peated the predictions which came from his own lips, and ap- 
pealing to the whole world whether they had been fulfilled, 
proclaimed them a delusion. But the principle which he had 
introduced did not fall to the ground, nor did his brother pro- 
phets cease to believe in his prophecies. And so it came to 
pass, that those utterances which had only been expository and 
exhortative before Baxter's time, after his revelation changed 
their nature, and gradually mingling details of Church ceremo- 



380 DEVELOPMENT. 

nies and ordinances with their previous devotional and hortatory 
character, became ere long the oracles of the community — 
fluctuating sometimes in gusts of painful uncertainty when one 
prophet rebuked the utterances of another, and reversed his 
directions, or when conclusions too summary were drawn which 
had inevitably to be departed from. This new development 
introduced, instead of the steady certainty of an established law, 
the unsettled and variable condition naturally resulting from 
dependence upon a mysterious spiritual authority, which might 
at any time command an entire change in their proceedings, 
and was besides liable to be intruded upon by equally mysteri- 
ous diabolical agencies, which could with difficulty be distin- 
guished from the real influence of the Spirit. When the prin- 
ciple of spiritual ordination was once established, this condition 
of painful change and fluctuation became inevitable. If it was 
indeed the Spirit of Grod which declared the old authority of 
the Church to be superseded, such an intimation was reasonably 
to be supposed the preface of spiritual action ; and if a power 
other than the Spirit of Grod, still more certain was the fruit to 
be borne by a suggestion which gave scope to every burning im- 
agination and enthusiast heart. New names, new offices, a 
changed mode of worship, came in gradual succession ; when 
the greater matters were momentarily settled, the minutest de- 
tails came in for their share ; and the very details became im- 
portant when it was believed that Grod Himself directed and 
suggested every arrangement of the new sanctuary. 

I do not attempt to follow the gradual development of the 
" Catholic Apostolic Church." I could not do so without 
shocking the honest feelings of some of the most excellent 
people I know, to whom I am indebted for much courtesy and 
no small assistance. They are very well able to set forth and 
defend their own faith ; and it would be ill my part to cast the 
faintest shade either of ridicule or of odium upon it. I only 
pause to point out the moment when the old order of things 
began to break up and disappear, leaving only here and there 
some pathetic shred of ancient habitude, such as the use of the 
Scotch Psalms, to show where the former landmarks had been. 
In the excitement of the new system thus gradually forming, 
in the proclamation of apostles about to be consecrated, and 
prophets about to be sent forth, and a new tabernacle of testi- 
mony against the world lying in wickedness to be established 
in that wilderness — a living tabernacle, every office-bearer of 
which was intended by Grod to stand in the place of some one 
of the symbolical material parts of Moses' tabernacle — it would 



A NEW ORDER OF THINGS. 381 

have been marvellous, indeed, had the old forms of Scottish 
worship remained intact amid so many convulsions. 

In a sermon preached in Grray's Inn Road, just before 
entering the new church, Irving thus intimated one or two of 
the changes proposed : — 

" Because I have been sore hindered by the presence of the multi- 
tude of strangers and gazers who have profaned the Lord's house, and 
have insulted me and do insult me daily, and not me only, but the Lord 
Jesus, it is my purpose, by God's grace, when we meet together again, 
that the Church shall meet together alone one full hour before the ad- 
mission of the people, in order that the Church may know what are the 
duties of the Church, and that we may together confess our sins before 
the Lord, and humble ourselves before the Lord, and bow ourselves 
down ; and that I may speak to you in the confidence of a pastor, 
that I may tell you more plainly than in the presence of strangers 
what be our faults, what be our shortcomings, in order that we may 
all be before the Lord, to be rebuked of Him accordingly. Then when 
the service of the Church hath thus been gone about, it is my pur- 
pose that the doors be opened, and all whom the Lord shall please 
to send shall come in, that we may pray for them and minister the word 
of the Gospel unto them. ... I hope at no great distance of time also 
that we shall find it both convenient and desirable to eat the Lord's 
Supper together, as a Church, every Lord's Day. But, as I said before, 
I do not wish to press this heavily, nor to enforce anything, but that 
by the gentle leading of the Spirit of God the Church may be led into it." 

The new Church itself bore outward evidence of the change. 
In a second pamphlet, entitled " Irvingism," much less rare 
and curious than his " Narrative," and published a year or two 
later, in which Mr Baxter appears calmed down out of his pro- 
phetic passion into the ordinary tone of religious controversy, 
he describes the place as follows : — " The room adopted for 
their meetings was fitted up in the usual style of pews and 
galleries, as in a church ; instead of a pulpit, however, there 
was constructed at the upper end of the church a raised plat- 
form, capable of containing perhaps fifty persons. In the ascent 
to this platform are steps, on the front of the platform are 
seven seats ; the middle seat is that of the angel ; the three on 
each side of the angel are elders. Below them on the steps, 
and in a parallel line, are seven other seats belonging to the 
prophets, the middle seat being allotted to Mr Taplin as the 
chief of the prophets. Still lower in a parallel line are seven 
other seats appropriated to the deacons, the middle seat being 
occupied by the chief deacon. This threefold cord of a seven- 
fold ministry was adopted under direction of the utterance. 
The angel ordered the service, and the preaching and expound- 



382 OPENING SERVICES IN NEWMAN STREET. 

ing was generally by the elders in order, the prophets speak- 
ing as utterance came upon them." The opening services, 
however, in this church seem to have been conducted exclu- 
sively by Irving, whose sermon, interrupted now and then by 
a manifestation, I have now before me. It was on Wednesday 
evening, the 24th of October, that this service was held ; and 
the manifestations are reported as they occurred. As an ex- 
ample of these utterances I quote them at length. In the 
course of his exposition of the 1st chapter of the First Book of 
Samuel, Irving mentions the Church as barren — " conceiving, 
but not having brought forth," upon which the ecstatic voice 
interposes — 

" Oh, but she shall be fruitful, oh ! oh ! oh ! she shall replenish the 
earth ! Oh ! oh ! she shall replenish the earth and subdue it — and 
subdue it ! " 

, A little further on another, less apposite to the subject of 
the discourse, breaks in as follows : — 

" Oh, you do grieve the Spirit — you do grieve the Spirit ! Oh, the 
body of Jesus is to be sorrowful in spirit ! You are to cry to your Fa- 
ther — to cry, to cry in the bitterness of your souls ! Oh, it is a mourn- 
ing, a mourning, a mourning before the Lord — a sighing and crying 
unto the Lord because of the desolations of Zion — because of the deso- 
lations of Zion — because of the desolations of Zion ! " 

The sermon is on Reconciliation to God, and is interrupted 
by the following " manifestations," in some cases with only a 
few sentences of the discourse, and in the first two, with only 
a few words between. Irving is exhorting his hearers to 
believe that " there is salvation in Christ for every one of 
you," when the utterance bursts forth by the voice of Mr 
Drummond — 

"Ah, shut Him not out — shut not out your Saviour ! Ah, you are 
proud of your dignity ! Ah, truly your power is fearful ! Ah, you have 
a power of resisting your God — you have a power of resisting your sal- 
vation ! Ah, you are not straitened in your Father ; you are straitened 
in yourselves ! Oh, receive Him now ! The day is almost closed. Ah, 
enter now ! Delay not — delay not, delay not. Ah, wherefore stand 
you back ? " 

Here Irving resumes, " Shut not the Lord out, the Spirit 
of the Lord speaking in his servants ;" when he is immediately 
interrupted again — 

" Oh, I have set before thee — oh, I have set before thee an open door ; 
Oh, let no man shut it — oh, let no man shut it ! " 



MANIFESTATIONS. 383 

And the following occur at longer intervals ; the first uttered 
by a lady — 

" Ah ! will ye despise — ah ! will ye despise the blood of Jesus ? 
Will ye pass by the cross, the cross of Jesus ? Oh ! oh ! oh ! will ye 
crucify the Lord of glory ? will ye put Him to an open shame ? He 
died, He died, He died for you — He died for you ! Believe ye, believe 
ye the Lamb of God ! Oh, He was slain, He was slain, and He hath 
redeemed you — He hath redeemed you — He hath redeemed you — He 
hath redeemed you with His blood ! Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood 
that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel — which crieth mercy 
to you now — mercy to you now ! Despise not His love — despise not 
His love — despise not His love ! " 

" Oh, grieve Him not ! Oh, grieve not your Father ! Rest in His 
love ! Oh, rejoice in your Father's love ! Oh, rejoice in the love of Jesus, 
in the love of Jesus, oh, for it passeth knowledge ! Oh, the length, oh, 
the breadth, oh, the height, oh, the depth of the love of Jesus ! oh, it 
passeth knowledge ! Oh, rejoice in the love of Jesus ! Oh sinner ! for 
what, for what, what, oh sinner, what can separate, separate, separate 
from the love of Jesus ? Oh, nothing, nothing ! Oh, none can pluck you 
out of His hands ! Oh, none shall be able to pluck you out of your 
Father's hand ! " 

Irving then, the sermon being concluded, intimates that the 
church is free throughout, no pew-letting being permitted — 
thus forestalling, as in various other respects, the anxious en- 
deavours of a most important part of the English Church — that 
it is to be open ten times a-week for public worship, besides 
four other services to which only the members of the Church 
are admitted, " with such devout persons as they may introduce 
by tickets," all others being excluded except to the porch of the 
church. This intimation is scarcely completed, when Mr 
Drummond's voice again breaks forth : — 

" Ah, be ye warned ! be ye warned ! Ye have been warned. The 
Lord hath prepared for you a table, but it is a table in the presence of 
your enemies. Ah, look you well to it ! The city shall be builded— 
ah ! every jot, every piece of the edifice. Be faithful each under his 
load— each under his load ; but see that ye build with one hand, and 
with a weapon in the other. Look to it — look to it. Ye have been 
warned. Ah ! Sanballat, Sanballat, Sanballat ; the Horonite, the 
Moabite, the Ammonite! Ah! confederate, confederate, confederate 
with the Horonite ! Ah, look ye to it, look ye to it ! " 

The benediction concluded the service. 

Thus concluded this singular service. The reader will per- 
ceive that there is actually nothing in those exclamations to 



384 ANOTHER ASSAULT. 

which the most orthodox believer could object : but will most 
probably wonder, as I confess I cannot help doing, why it 
should have been necessary to interrupt the voice of the 
preacher for utterances which convey so little, and which to 
read them in common print and daylight, are not more, but 
less profound and instructive than the strain of the discourse 
which pauses to give them place ; many of the services, how- 
ever, are much less frequently interrupted, and some not at all. 
In one of them occurs a curious instance of the expanded ritual 
grafted upon the old usage, in a series of short addresses 
spoken to each individual communicant by name, with which 
Irving accompanied the distribution of the " tokens ;" and in 
which every man and woman of all those unknown appellations 
receives a curious identity in all the various particulars of 
poverty and prosperity, age and youth. 

Little further of Irving's personal history appears in this 
eventful and exciting year. Amid all its agitation, one can 
fancy a certain repose lighting upon him after the fiery trial 
with which it began. He was forsaken of his friends, yet love 
still surrounded him ; he had suffered injustice, despite, and 
loss, but the immediate pangs were over. Already he had 
been promised the mission of a great prophet to his dear native 
country, and solace was in the thought ; and though Baxter 
had fallen, there were other prophets standing close around 
him, who renewed and held up to the continued hope of the 
Church those predictions which they believed Baxter to have 
too rashly interpreted, too suddenly desired fruition of — and 
the sky before the separated community was still bright with 
glorious hopes. 

This momentary calm was, however, once more broken, in 
October, by warnings of renewed trouble. The Church of 
Scotland was in no manner called upon to interfere. The scene 
of his labours was beyond her jurisdiction, and he seems to 
have had no immediate intention of visiting Scotland, or bring- 
ing himself within the reach of her anathema. But, perhaps, 
it was impossible that any merely human corporation of men, 
actuated by no greater self-control than their fellows, could 
have passed over the solemn and indignant Judpnent pronounced 
upon their proceedings by Irving, in the Morning Watc7i, 
without using such means of reprisal as were in their power. 
The General Assembly of 1831 had issued orders to any Pres- 
bytery which might find him ministering within their bounds, 
to " take action " against him for his heretical views ; but, 
stimulated by assault, it had quickened its movements, and by 
means of its Commission, a kind of representative committee 



SUFFERING AND CONFLICT. 385 

nad given orders to the Presbytery which ordained Irving to 
proceed at once to his trial. The Presbytery of Annan, ac- 
cordingly, bestirred themselves. They wrote to him, demand- 
ing whether he was the author of three tracts which they 
specified. Under the circumstances, his answer was purely 
voluntary ; but, with his usual candour, he replied at once, with 
full avowal of the fact, and vehement condemnation of the 
G-eneral Assembly, with which he declared himself able hence- 
forth " to make no relationship but that of open and avowed 
enmity." The expressions he used on this occasion were almost 
violent — his vexed spirit, to which no rest was permitted, burst- 
ing forth in words more suitable to an Ezekiel than to a man 
unjustified by inspiration. In his view, the highest court of 
the Church of Scotland had rejected God in all the threefold 
character of his revelation — in the love of the Father, the hu- 
manity of the Son, and the operations of the Holy Grhost ; and 
his heart burned with a solemn and lofty indignation, all the 
more intense for the love and reverence with which he had 
formerly regarded the Church of his fathers. 

"With this renewed thunderbolt hanging over him, he went 
through the remainder of the year. " We are all well, and the 
Lord forbeareth greatly with such unworthy creatures, and 
aboundeth in love to us for Christ's sake," are the words with, 
which he concludes a letter in December. A certain exhaust- 
ion, yet calm of heart, breathes out of the words. Scarcely a 
man of all those with whom he had been used to take counsel 
but had fallen aloof, and stood afar off, disapproving, perhaps 
condemning — and, what was a still harder trial to Irving, call- 
ing that which to him was the work of the Holy Grhost, a de- 
lusion. But his heart was worn out with much suffering ; and, 
in the interval of conflict, a certain tranquillity, half of weari- 
ness, enveloped his troubled life. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

1833. 



The course of events went on in natural development after 
the separation of Irving and his little community. To a large 
extent secluded within themselves, they carried out their newly 
established principles and " waited upon the Lord," as perhaps 



25 



386 INQUIRIES OF MR CAMPBELL. 

no other community of modern days has ever dreamed of doing, 
guiding themselves and their ordinances implicitly by the teach- 
ing of the oracles in the midst of them. In this career of daily 
increasing isolation, Irving had not only lost the support of 
his immediate personal friends in London, but also of those 
much-loved brethren in faith, in whose defence he had lifted 
his mighty voice, and for whom he had denounced the Church 
of Scotland. Mr Scott, though still entertaining the full con- 
viction that miraculous gifts were part of the inheritance of 
Christians, had totally refused his sanction to the present 
utterances ; and the two friends were now separated to drift 
further and further apart through all imaginable degrees of un- 
likeness. Mr Campbell, for whose distinctive views Irving had 
stood forth so warmly, and whom he had embraced with all the 
overflowing sympathy and love of his heart, was equally unable 
to perceive any evidences of Divine inspiration. An impression 
seems to have prevailed, if not in Irving's mind, at least among 
several members of his community, that both these gentlemen 
would naturally fall into their ranks, and add strength and sta- 
bility to the new Church. I have in my possession notes of 
a correspondence carried on some time later between Mr Camp- 
bell and some members of the Newman Street Church, in which 
the Scotch minister had to hold his ground against two most 
acute and powerful opponents — one of whom was Henry 
Drummond, brilliant and incisive iu controversy, as in most 
other things — and to defend and justify himself for not joining 
them. To lose the sympathy of these special brethren was very 
grievous to Irving ; and he seized the opportunity of explain- 
ing the ground of his faith and that of his people in answer to 
some questions which Mr Campbell very early in this year 
addressed to Mr David Ker, one of the deacons in Newman 
Street, and a member of a well-known family in Greenock, in 
the immediate neighbourhood of which the " gifts" had first dis- 
played themselves. This letter, which I quote, shows that Ir- 
ving's own faith had needed very absolute props to support it, 
and that he had not proceeded so far upon his martyr-path 
without such trial of doubts and misgivings as could only be 
quenched by a confidence in his own sincerity and utter trust 
in God's promise possible to very few men under any circum- 
stances. Once more he reiterated with sorrowful constancy his 
certain conviction that to His children, when they asked for 
bread, God would not give a stone. 

" 14, Newman Street, February 22, 1833. 
" My dear Brother, — When our dear David Ker asked me counsel 
concerning the answering of the questions in your letter, touching the 



irvlng's reply. 387 

ground of faith in spiritual utterance, I deemed it best to take the mat- 
ter in hand for him altogether, and do now hope to deliver the mind of 
God to you in this matter. The view of the dear brethren in Port-Glas- 
gow,* to wit, the answer of the spirit in the hearer, is the ground of 
belief in any word spoken by any man or by any spirit ; but it is only 
the basis or ground thereof, and by no means resolves the question in 
hand. There is a confidence in God which goes far beyond the answer 
of the spirit, and enables us to walk in the darkness as well as in the 
light ; for His footsteps are not known. This confidence pertaineth 
to him that is of a pure heart and single eye, and conscious of integrity 
and clearness in His sight. I believe that this sustained oar Lord in 
the crooked paths wherein God led him, and that it was, and is, and 
ever will be, the main, yea, the only evidence by which the prophet, 
having the word of God coming to him, shall know it is the word of God, 
and as such speak it ; by which also the hearer shall know it is the 
word of God, and as such hear it. It is true that God leadeth men into 
temptation, as he did Abraham, and then it is their part to obey impli- 
citly the word of the Lord, and the Lord will bring them out of the 
temptation to His own glory and to their own good. I declare, for my- 
self and for my Church, that this is almost our entire safety, to wit, 
confidence that our God will take care of us ; for we are not a reasoning 
people, but we seek to be, and I believe are, the servants of God. More- 
over we have great faith in the stability of an ordinance. We look up 
to the deacons, and the elders, and the angel of the Church, as stand- 
ing in the Lord Jesus, and we expect and desire to see and hear Him 
in their ministry, and we believe that it will be to us according to 
our faith, and we have found it to be so in times past. But foras- 
much as the voice of the Comforter is the highest of all ordinances in 
the Church, we steadily believe that the Lord for His own name, as 
well as for His own end's sake, will not suffer, without a very great 
cause, any breaking in or breaking out therein ; and so, when He open- 
eth the mouth of a brother in power, we expect to hear His voice, and 
we are not disappointed, and so our experience increaseth our expect- 
ation, and in this way we proceed and prosper. In respect of signs, 
we rather desire them not, than desire them at present, until the word 
of our God shall have delivered us from our carnal-mindedness, and from 
following sight instead of faith. When the Lord permitted the enemy 
to tempt us, seeing our simplicity, He himself delivered us from the 
temptation, and we learned the more to trust Him and to distrust our- 
selves. And oh, brother, the fountain which is opened having yielded 
us nothing but sweet waters, it would be so ungrateful for us to do 
anything but rejoice in it, that I feel even this letter to be a liberty with 
my God, which, save for a brother's satisfaction, I would not have ven- 
tured to take. There are many things now that I could say, but I re- 
frain, lest I should encourage a temptation in you to speculate about 
holy things, and so lead you into a snare. I pray God to keep you in 
the faith of Him, in darkness as in light, and no less when in light than 
in darkness, farewell. 

u Your faithful brother, Edwaud Irving." 

* Where the " manifestations " first took place : see ante, p. 288. 



388 irving's mode of explaining himself. 

The singular junction in this letter of the ruling " Angel " 
of the Church, retaining all his natural influence and sway, 
who " will take good care " that the apostle does bow to his 
authority — with the simple and absolute believer, confident that 
he is serving God in utter sincerity, and that God will not de- 
ceive him, nor suffer him to be deceived in his unbounded trust, 
is very remarkable. In this lies the clue which many of Irving's 
critics have sought in vain, and which some have imagined them- 
selves able to trace to motives which appear in no other mani- 
festation of bis heroic and simple soul. While one portion of his 
friends are affectionately lamenting the blind faith with which he 
delivers over his understanding to the guidance of the " gifted " 
■ — and another are impatiently fretting over the credulity which 
to their calm sense is inconceivable, this is the attitude in which 
the object of so many animadversions stands. Vulgar voices 
outside assail him, the soul of honour, with imputations of im- 
posture and religious fraud ; friends, more cruel, suggest some- 
times a hectic inclination towards the marvellous — sometimes 
the half-conscious desire of attracting back again the fashionable 
crowds of early days. Singularly unlike all these representa- 
tions he here presents himself. Tears before, he had called his 
brother with him from the Kirkcaldy manse-parlour to join in 
his prayers for a dying man, in the sublime confidence that" what 
two of you shall agree together to ask, it shall be done unto 
them of my Father. " Tears have not changed his confidence in 
that unchanging God. He stands gazing with eyes abstracted 
upon the skies which that burning gaze can all but pierce ; he 
has put his Master to His word ; and having done so, the ser- 
vant of God cannot descend from that mount of prayer to the 
cool criticism of other men. First in the matter to a mind at 
all times so exalted, and to which all nature was miraculous, 
was that Lord to whom he had appealed ; as he explains him- 
self from those heights of perpetual prayer, a certain impatience, 
strangely like the impatience with which the watchers below 
contemplate him in his incomprehensible simplicity, breathes 
from his impassioned words, " I am broken in my heart 
daily with your slowness of faith ; " and his explanation is, if 
anything, more incomprehensible than his acts, to men who, 
lost in all the complications of a world growing old, can 
only gaze amazed at that primitive standing-ground on which, 
as if he had been born in the days of Moses or Abraham, this 
man of the nineteenth century has found footing. How any 
man dares believe that he himself is utterly sincere in his ask- 
ing, and sure of an answer — how any man ventures openly to 
assume for himself that position to which the Bible calls every 






CONTRAST BETWEEN IRVING AND BAXTER. 389 

man — and how, dismissing all further question, he can lift his 
abstracted ear, and give his rapt soul to the infallible reply — is 
a mystery which nobody can penetrate. Such a position devout 
men may attain to at the supreme and secret moments of indi- 
vidual life. I can no more explain or comprehend that ineffa- 
ble primitive elevation than could Irving's curious observers, 
who saw him standing forth in it, a sign and wonder to the 
world. But there he did stand absolute, in a primitive heroic 
faith. 

And, granting this miraculous postulate, there is, in every- 
thing Irving does thereafter, a certain lofty reasonableness 
which does but still more and more bewilder the minds of his 
auditors. The region into which he had entered appeared so 
entirely one beyond reason, that the outside observers expected 
to find nothing that was not wild and irregular, according to all 
the traditions of enthusiasm and spiritual excitement, there. 
But Irving, with his exalted heart, to which no miracle seems 
too wonderful, keeps, in the midst of all that wild agitation, the 
limits of God's word and man's nature in utter distinction from 
such a rash enthusiast as the prophet Baxter, whom even at 
the height of his inspiration the pastor continually interposes 
to calm and moderate. When the latter fancies that he has 
been commanded by God to abandon his family and profession, 
to appear before the King in "testimony," and to suffer the 
pains of martyrdom, Irving comes in upon his heated visions 
with the suggestion, that " if a man provide not for those of his 
own house he is worse than an infidel" — proving his own 
declaration, that if in anything the utterances controverted 
Scripture, he was content that they should " be anathema." 
Throughout his pleadings before the Presbytery of London, 
and in the letters I have just quoted, nothing seems so remark- 
able as this reasonableness, only allowing the truth of the first 
grand assumption, that the " work " was the work of God. But 
this reason, governing the actions of a man on such a sublimated 
level of existence, does only perplex and confuse the more those 
curious, anxious, interested spectators who might have ventured 
to hope it was merely temporary delusion, had everything about 
it been equally wild and irregular — but who were struck dumb 
by this visionary application, to such a matter, of those rules 
of trial and experiment common, in the ordinary affairs of life, 
to all sane and vigorous minds. 

The year was little more than begun when Irving had again 
to enter into direct conflict with his former brethren. The 
question was changed as well as the scene. Before the hasty 
and reckless Presbytery of London he had defended himself 



390 DOCTRINE OF 

against the imputation of having suffered unauthorized persons 
to speak in his church. The Presbytery of Annan, who had 
ordained him, now called him to their bar to answer the charge 
of holding heretical doctrine : viz., the sinfulness of our Lord's 
humanity. This doctrine, concerning which Irving, at first, 
wist not that there was any controversy, had by this time created 
a little controversial literature of its own in the excited theo- 
logical world — a literature in which that holy and perfect exist- 
ence, which both parties professed to adore, was made the sub- 
ject of discussions, always more or less profane, in which both 
parties forgot, in horror at each other's statements, the rever- 
ence and awe which neither statement had, till controversy 
arose, done anything to impugn. I know nothing more painful, 
nor, indeed, in some of its phases, more hideous and revolting, 
than the hot contest, preserved in many scattered publications, 
fortunately now almost forgotten, which rose over this myste- 
rious and awful subject. Prom the trials in the Scotch Church 
courts where ignorant witnesses delivered their opinions on "the 
hypostatical union," to the revolting physical argument by 
which some writers of higher pretensions laboured to establish 
what proportion of its substance a child derived from its mother, 
the whole discussion is throughout destructive — so far as any 
external influence can be so — of that tender, profound, and 
adoring reverence which no man living ever felt more deeply 
than he who was accused of aiming at its subversion. I do 
not believe there was any real difference whatever between the 
faith of devout men on the opposite sides of this question. Those 
who held, with Irving, that our Lord took the flesh of man as 
He found it, and was our true brother, disowned with horror 
and indignation the most distant thought that sin ever soiled 
or breathed upon that holy flesh ; and those who believed Him 
to have come in a certain Eden-fiction of humanity, not so 
much Holy as Innocent, were, nevertheless, when off this vex- 
ing controversy, as ready as any to claim the privilege of Chris- 
tians, that sympathy of the fellow-sufferer— that tenderest 
compassion which comes from experiment of all our sorrows 
and temptations— with which practically every Christian soul 
knows its Lord invested. The men were fighting in the dark 
with deadly weapons of those words which confuse and obscure 
the truth. They were in their hearts at one, both holding a 
Head absolute in divine holiness aud purity, perfect in human 
fellowship and tenderness ; — but the words were external and 
demonstrative, and the hearts could not make themselves audi- 
ble in any other than that belligerent human language which 
does but half express and half conceal every spiritual reality. 






irving's arrival IN ANNAN. 391 

So it came about that the Church of Scotland, then so impatient 
and absolute, and resolute for identity of expression as well as 
agreement of faith, had to enact another scene in this strange 
episode of history, and wear with another sharp struggle Irving's 
sorrowful and troubled soul. 

" Edward goes down to Annan to meet the Presbytery, I 
think on the 12th March. The Lord give him a sound mind ! " 
writes Dr Martin to one of the affectionate and anxious family, 
who watched all Irving's proceedings with tender curiosity. He 
went by way of Manchester, from which place, where his only 
surviving sister still lives, he wrote to his wife of his affectionate 
meeting with his kindred there — " my dear and precious mother, 
and my two sisters, and all their children here present " — and 
took time to remark that "two sweeter children I have not seen," 
than the little nephew and niece whom he mentions by name. 
This and the fact that he had dropped the bag of sandwiches 
prepared for his refreshment on the journey "on the highway 
for the benefit of some poor one or other — I lost it and grudged 
not " — is all that is contained, besides his never-failing bene- 
diction, in the rapid note of the wayfarer. On the morning of 
the 13th of March he " arrived at Annan," according to the 
report of the trial, afterwards published, " by the London mail, 
and was met by Mr Ker, of London, one of his deacons. A 
crowd was collected in the street, in expectation of the reverend 
gentleman's arrival by the mail ; and, upon his alighting at the 
house of his brother-in-law, Mr Dickson, where the coach 
stopped on its way to the inn, the crowd, which was at that 
time dispersed in groups, ran eagerly to the spot, to catch a 
glimpse of their celebrated townsman. In the course of the 
forenoon, hundreds of individuals of all classes kept pouring 
into Annan from the neighbourhood ; and parties, in vehicles 
of different descriptions, came in from Dumfries, Carlisle, 
Longtown, and other neighbouring towns. Twelve o'clock 
was the hour appointed for the proceedings to commence at 
the parish church, and by that time the place was literally 
crammed. It is computed that at least 2000 persons were 
assembled." Irving was accompanied by Mr Ker, and by the 
Rev. David Dow, formerly of Irongray, a minister of the Church 
of Scotland, who had some time before received the " gift of 
tongues and prophecy." 

After the court was constituted, the libel or indictment was 
read. In this document, which was of great length, Irving was 
accused of "printing, publishing, and disseminating heresies and 
heretical doctrines, particularly the doctrine of the fallen state 
and sinfulness of our Lord's human nature." No evidence of 



392 DAVID AND GOLIATH. 

any kind, except the admission of the accused that he was the 
author of The Orthodox and Catholic Doctrine of our Lord's 
Human Nature ; The Day of Pentecost; and one specified article 
in the Morning Watch, seems to have been considered necessary. 
A discussion then ensued upon the " relevancy of the libel " — . 
or rather no discussion, for all were agreed, but a statement by 
each member of the Presbytery, individually, of his opinion. 
Dr Duncan, the only man among them whose name was ever 
heard out of Annandale, contented himself with declaring 
the libel to be " relevant." Two of the members of Presbytery, 
however, made speeches on the occasion. The first, Mr Sloan, 
of Dornoch, the hero of many local anecdotes, deplored " the 
difficulties under which he laboured in rising to combat with 
one of so great a name as the Reverend Edward Irving — one 
with whomhe was in manyrespects so unequally yoked — though, 
notwithstanding that, as the stripling David slew the giant 
Groliath with a stone from the brook, having gone forth in the 
strength of the Lord, so he hoped to succeed in proving the 
heresy of even so great a giant as that reverend gentleman." 
After a considerable time spent in these preliminaries, Irving 
was permitted to speak in defence. His speech is throughout 
a noble and indignant protest against that disingenuous state- 
ment of the point at issue, which infallibly prejudged the 
question, and which no amount of denial or protest could ever 
induce his opponents to alter. With a warmth and earnestness 
becoming the importance of the cause, he thus pleaded for a 
true understanding of his own faith : — 

" As to my maintaining that Christ is other than most holy, I do 
protest that it is not true. It is not true ! — before the living God, I do 
declare it is false. And, though all men should say it is true, I say it 
is false, and that it proceeds from the father of lies. It has been held 
up in every pulpit within this land that I have preached and dissemin- 
ated doctrines inconsistent with the unity of God. Albeit I deny it — 
I deny it ! It is a lie. It has not a shadow of foundation in truth. I 
would give my life, and, if I had ten thousand lives, I would give them 
all to maintain the contrary. It is an unjust slander. I never wrote, 1 
never preached, such damnable doctrine ; and that all honest men can 

say. I stand in this place, and say that I am ready to die for it 

I stand here, a witness for the Lord Jesus, to tell men what He did for 
them ; and what He did was this — He took your flesh and made it holy, 
thereby to make you holy ; and therefore he will make every one holy 
who believes in Him. He came into your battle and trampled under foot 
Satan, the world, the flesh, yea, all enemies of living men, and He saith 
to every one, ' Be ye holy, for I am holy. 5 Do you say that that man was 
unacquainted with grief — that He was unacquainted with the warrings 
of the flesh ? I dare ye to say that the Lord your Saviour had an easier 



irving's defence. 393 

passage through life than you had. I dare ye to say that His work was 
a holiday work. Is this your gratitude to the Captain of your salvation ? 
Can you follow in His footsteps, if He did not do the work ? . . . (The 
rev. gentleman then turned to the 40th Psalm, -which he proceeded to 
read and comment upon.) ' I waited patiently for the Lord ; he inclined 
his ear, and heard my cry,' &c. But ye say He was never in the pit, 
nor the clay. But I say He was in both ; and, moreover, that all the 
water-floods of the Divine wrath passed over Him, and that the Father 
left Him to mourn with great mourning. . . . The apostles taught out 
of the Psalms, and not from Confessions of Faith and traditionary docu- 
ments. But show me the Psalm where it is written that He does not 
call our sins His own. But was He sinful ? No ; but look ye, the very 
reverse of sin inhered in His soul. He suffered because He loved you — 
and now you dare to say that He loved you not. Be ashamed to this 
day, ye people ! that ye know not more of Him who suffered so much 

for you. He bore your sin. This broke His heart Now, men 

and brethren, I am here this day to tell you the truth as it is in Jesus." 

Db Duncan rose and said that it was evident Mr Irving was 
speaking to the people of his own doctrines, not to the Presbytery in 
his defence. 

Mb, Ibving : " Oh no, no. Don't prevent me saying what I wish 
in my defence." 

The Modebatob said, it seemed to him as if Mr Irving imagined 
he was in London, preaching to his people there. 

Me, Ibving : " Oh no, no, — it is not so ! I know well where I now 
stand. I stand in the place where I was born, in the church wherein 

I was first baptized and then ordained Ye ministers, elders, and 

presbytery! this is no question of scholastic theology. I speak for 
the sanctification of men. I wish my flock to be holy ; and, unless the 
Lord Jesus has contended with sin, as they are commanded to do, how 
can they be holy when they follow Him ? Can I ask the people to do 
or suffer more than He did ? He is the Captain of their salvation, and 
I wish them to follow Him ! Can a soldier who is sick, wounded, or 
dead, be expected to follow a leader who is filled with the omnipotence 
of God ? Nay ! But if his captain be sick, wounded, and dead, too, 
may he not ask the soldier to do the like ? Now Jesus was sick for us, 
contended with sinful flesh for us, and hence it is that He can call on 
us to follow Him in our contendings with sin, our sicknesses, and 
deaths. Yea, and He does call on us. . . . Ah, was He not holy? 
Did He not gain for us a victory? Holy in His mother's womb; 
holy in His childhood ; holy in His advancing years ; holy in His na- 
tivity ; holy in His resurrection ; and not more holy in one than in an- 
other : and He calls upon you to be holy — and this is what He says, 

'Be ye holy, for I am holy.' This is my doctrine Mock me 

not by speaking of popularity. The reproaches of a brother are hard 
to bear. Ye know not what I have suffered ; you know not what it is 
to be severed from a flock you love ; to be banished from your house ; to 
be driven from a place of worship in which ye have been honoured, as 
God's servants, by the tokens of His approbation. Yet, though thus 
scorned and trampled on, truth is prevailing. You shall not go one 
half mile in London but you shall see some of our Scottish youth, yea,, 



394 DECISION OF THE PRESBYTERY. 

and of our English youth also, standing up to preach that truth for 
which I now appear at this bar. At Charing Cross, at London Bridge, 
at the Tower, and in all the high places of the city, you shall find them 
preaching to a perishing people, and, though often hooted and pelted, 
yet patient withal. And I am sure the day is not far distant when the 
Evangelist shall go forth and be listened to throughout the land. 

" Ministers and elders of the Presbytery of Annan ! I stand at your 
bar by no constraint of man. You could not — no person on earth could 
— have brought me hither. I am a free man on a free soil, and living 
beyond your bounds. Neither General Assembly nor Pope has a right 
to meddle with me. Yea, I know ye have sinned against the Head of 
the Church, in stretching thus beyond your measure, and this sin ye 

must repent of Is it nothing, think ye, that ye have brought 

me from my flock of nine hundred souls, besides children, looking up 
to me for spiritual food ? Is it nothing that ye have taken me away 
from ruling among my apostles and elders, and brought me three hun- 
dred miles to stand before you at this bar ? , . . . I stand here not by 
constraint, but willingly. Do what you like. I ask not judgment of 
you ; my judgment is with my God." 

I will not attempt to enter into the decision of the Pres- 
bytery of Annan, as contained in the speeches delivered, one 
by one, of its clerical members. The only one reported at 
any length is that of Dr Duncan, who repeats for the hun- 
dredth time those passages which Irving was as ready to 
quote and adopt as any man, in which the Virgin's child is 
spoken of as that holy thing, and which describe our Lord as 
" holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," and 
" tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The other men, 
whose arguments are not recorded, agree one by one. The 
accused is pronounced to be " guilty as libelled." The 
Moderator then asks him if he has any objection to state 
why sentence of deposition should not be passed against 
him. "Objection! all objection," exclaims the defendant at 
that strange bar ; " I object, not for my own sake, but for 
the sake of Christ my Lord, whom I serve and honour. I 
object for your sakes .... I object for the Church's sake." 
" The reverend gentleman," continues the report from which 
I quote, " again solemnly declared that he did not hold the 
sinfulness of the human nature of Christ and con- 
cluded by most earnestly beseeching the Presbytery, as they 
valued the salvation of their souls, not to pass sentence upon 
him." Upon which ensued the following singular and ex- 
citing scene : — 

" The Moderator was then about to proceed to the solemn duty 
which had devolved upon him, and, as a preliminary, requested Mr 



IRVING LEAVES THE CHURCH. 395 

Sloan, the senior member of the Presbytery, to offer up a prayer to Al- 
mighty God, when a voice was heard from the pew in which Mr Irving 
was seated, and which was immediately found to be that of Mr Dow, 
late minister of Irongray, exclaiming, ' Arise, depart ! Arise, depart ! 
flee ye out, flee ye out of her ! Ye cannot pray ! How can ye pray ? 
How can ye pray to Christ whom ye deny ? Ye cannot pray. Depart, 
depart ! flee, flee ! ' The scene at this moment was singular, and the 
commotion in the gallery not a little astounding. As there was only 
one candle in the church, no one, at first, knew whence or from whom 
the voice proceeded ; and it was not till one of the clergymen had lifted 
the candle and looked peeringly about that he discovered the interjec- 

tional words spoken were emitted by Mr Dow The assembly, 

which was very numerous, and had acted in the most becoming manner, 
now became confused, and Mr Dow rose to leave the house. Mr Irving, 
who was proceeding to follow his friend, then exclaimed, also with 
great vehemence, and apparently to the crowd, that somewhat obstructed 
his passage, ' Stand forth ! stand forth ! What ! will ye not obey the 
voice of the Holy Ghost ? As many as will obey the voice of the Holy 
Ghost, let them depart.' " 

Thus, in the twilight of the March night, through crowds 
of confused and wondering spectators, who heard that un- 
looked-for outcry without being able to see whence it pro- 
ceeded, Irving went forth from the church where he had been 
baptized and ordained — from the Church of Scotland, the 
sanctuary of his fathers — never more to enter within walls 
dedicated to her worship till he entered in silent pomp to 
wait the resurrection and advent of his Lord. There are, 
perhaps, few more striking scenes in his life than this in his 
native church, filled with all those throngs of native friends 
— old people, who had helped to form his mind — contem- 
poraries of his own, who had watched his wonderful progress 
with a thrill of pride and amaze ; men to whom he had been 
a brother ; wistful women, scarcely able, for awe and pity, to 
keep the tears within their eyes. From that May-day in 
which he knelt there before his Master and took his ordina- 
tion vows — swearing a true faith which he had never broken, 
a loyal allegiance and service to which he had been true, 
with the fidelity of a spotless knight — to this bleak afternoon 
of March, slowly shadowing, minute by minute, upon those 
clouds of eager faces growing pale in the darkness, what a 
brilliant interval, what a wonderful difference ! Clouds and 
coming night were now upon the path to which he went 
forth, commanded by the Holy Grhost: no longer triumph 
and victory, no second spring of hope — only the reproach 
that broke his heart — the desertion — the sin, as he held it, 
of his brethren, for whom he would have given his life. But 
it was a comfort to his forlorn heart to be sent forth by that 



396 DEPOSITION. 

voice which, he believed to be the voice of GTod. The anguish 
of hearing the sentence of deposition was spared him, and 
with a pathetic joy he rejoiced over this when he gave his 
own account of the eventful day. 

Left behind in the dark church, with their two thousand 
tremulous, amazed spectators, and their solitary candle, the 
Presbytery deposed him from the ministry — took away from 
him, as far as they could do it, his clerical character, and 
pronounced him no longer a minister or member of the 
Church of Scotland ; then, after seven hours' sitting, went 
after him into the darkness, and disappeared henceforth out 
of all mortal ken — except in Annandale, to be seen no more. 

I know few details of his proceedings for some days after 
this. He preached in various villages in Annandale in the 
open air to thousands of excited and sympathetic listeners, 
At Cummertrees — on the Sands of Dumfries — and on a hill- 
side in Terregles, the fair Terra Ecclesice, through which Nith 
flows to the sea, his countryfolk gathered to hear him whose 
voice they were never more to hear again. It was a solemn 
leave-taking of his native hills and mosses. "With an indig- 
nation vehement as only grief could make it, he denounced 
the Church which had cast him out, which had disowned not 
him, but his Lord, who " came in the flesh " — and preached, 
with an eloquence more intense and enthralling than ever, 
Christ's fellowship and love, Christ's coming and glory. Then 
he took farewell of his kinsfolk, and returned to London, 
where what I cannot but believe must have been another 
and an equally hard trial awaited him.* Deposed by his 

* Explanations have been sent to me respecting this, which it is perhaps 
better to give in a note, that my readers may be able to modify for themselves 
the original statement. In this, as in various other passages, I may, however, 
explain that I never intended to imply, nor did I believe, that the leaders of 
the new community had any intention of humiliating or thwarting their 
"Angel." I have described these circumstances as seen from without; Mr 
Cardale explains them from within, as follows : " The facts are," he says, 
" misrepresented. Mr Irving's congregation, formed by himself, though 
based on an old foundation, was Presbyterian — in connection with the Estab- 
lished Church of Scotland. Such as it was in outward form and mode of 
worship in Kegent Square, such it remained without alteration until Mr 
Irving received apostolical ordination. The sentence of deposition was pro- 
nounced at Annan, on the 13th of March ... He would not, therefore, have 
returned to London until after Sunday, the 17th. On his return he resumed 
all his accustomed duties, but on a Sunday after his return, which could not 
have been earlier than the 24th, as he was proceeding to baptize an infant, 
there was a word spoken to the effect that what the Church of Scotland had 
given the Church of Scotland could withdraw, and therefore that he should 
not administer the Sacraments until he had again received ordination. In 
obedience to what he believed to be God's word, he abstained from administer- 



RETURNS TO NEWMAN STREET. 397 

mother Church, he returned to Newman Street, to the little 
community which, according to ordinary ideas, he himself 
had originated and brought together, and of which he was 
supposed to be the ruling influence ; and when he arrived 
there, with his wounded heart, he was received, not with ex- 
traordinary honours as a martyr, but with an immediate in- 
terdict, in " the power," forbidding him to exercise any 
priestly function, to administer sacraments, or to assume any- 
thing out of the province of a deacon, the lowest office in the 
newly-formed church. One of his relations writes with affec- 
tionate indignation that he was not permitted even to preach, 
except in those less sacred assemblies in which the outer 
world of unbelievers were admitted to meet the Church. 
Such an inconceivable indignity, according to all human 
rules, did the spiritual authorities, whom his constant and 
steadfast faith had made masters of his flock, put upon their 
former leader. No expectation of any such setting aside 
seems to have been in Irving's mind when he subscribed him- 
self their "faithful pastor and angel over Christ's flock." 
This, however, was the welcome he received when, sad and 
weary, he returned from Annan. I have no right to affirm 
that this was one among the many wounds that went to his 
heart, for not a syllable of complaint upon the subject ever 
came from Irving's lips ; on the contrary, he describes the 
whole occurrence in a letter to Mr D. Dow with all his usual 
quaint minuteness, but without the least appearance of in- 
jured feeling, evidently accepting his new position with per- 
fect satisfaction and faith ; but he seems to have had no 
expectation of so extraordinary a proceeding, and it is some- 
thing entirely unprecedented in the records of religious or- 
ganizations. Other men have founded sects to rule them ; 
Irving, no founder of a sect, came forth, through repeated 
anguish and conflict, at the head of his community, only to 
serve and to obey. 

ing Sacraments : but in all other respects he acted as the minister of the con- 
gregation just as previously. No one usurped his place, or fulfilled his pre- 
vious duties, nor did he remain in silence for a day or for an hour If 

either he or his flock had been left in any doubt as to the near approach of 
his subsequent ordination, I could have thoroughly acquiesced in the opinion 
expressed as to the effect of the ' Interdict ' on Mr Irving's mind. But as 
the case stands, so far from regarding it as a trial, the probability is that Mr 
Irving considered the occurrence as putting honour on the Church institutions 
of Scotland by the acknowledgment of the judicial act, notwithstanding its 
injustice ; and that both he and the congregation regarded it as the fullest 
pledge that he was about to receive the ordination which had already been 
conferred on others, and to which he most undoubtedly looked with earnest 
expectation." 



398 RE-ORDINATION. 

Accordingly, those lingering March days glided on through 
all the oft devotions of the church : the prophets spoke and 
elders ruled — but in the midst of them Irving waited, listen- 
ing wistfully if perhaps the voice from heaven might come 
to restore him to that office which was the vocation of his 
life. Few of Grod's servants have been so profoundly tested ; 
and small would have been the wonder had his much-afflicted 
soul given way under this last unkindness, with which Heaven 
itself seemed brought in, to give a climax to man's ingrati- 
tude. At last, while he sat in the lowest place, and waited 
with a humbleness to which I know no parallel — strangest 
and most touching proof of that sincerity to which, in the 
sight of Grod, he might well appeal* — the " utterance " once 
more called the forlorn but dauntless warrior to take up his 
arms. By " the concurrent action in manifested supernatural 
power both of prophet and apostle, he was called and or- 
dained angel or chief pastor of the flock assembled in New- 
man Street," says the authorized "Chronicle " of that church. 
The sacred office, in which he had laboured for so many won- 
derful years, and won such usury of his Master's grand de- 
posit — that office, in which for so many sorrowful days his 
surprised soul had been stopped short and put aside — was 
restored to him by the apostolic hands of Mr Cardale, at the 
command of one of the ecstatic speakers. And Irving ac- 
cepted that re-ordination : he, upon whose devoted head no 
gifts of inspiration descended, and for whose deliverance no 
miracles were wrought — standing alone in the eminence of 
nature, among men, none of whom on any but this super- 
natural ground could ever have reached his side — stooped to 
the touch of the new apostle, and took back the ministry 
which, through many a long year, Grod Himself had sealed in 
the saving of souls. Not Ezekiel, when that prophet stood 
tearless, forbidden to weep, and saw the desire of his eyes 
buried out of his sight, was a more perfect sign to his gen- 
eration than this ]oyal, humble, uncompensated soul. 

Meanwhile domestic anxiety once more came in to 
heighten his other troubles, and the youngest of his children 
fell ill. " His mother said that the Lord had punished their 
child for their sin," writes Mrs Hamilton, in April, "which 
sin, I think, they conceive specially to be Edward's having 
remained in Scotland, after meeting with the Presbytery," 
an error for which, she proceeds to say, he was sharply re- 
buked in the church, after he returned. But, whether or 
not the ailing infant bore this burden, it is certain that its 
life was waning ; and another bereavement fell immediately, 



ANOTHER DEATH. 399 

as intimated in the following letter to Dr Martin, upon the 
much suffering house : 

" 14, Newman Street, April 23, 1833. 
" Mr deae Eathee, — The Lord, in His severity and His goodness, 
hath been pleased to chastise us for our sin and the sins of the flock by 
removing from us our darling Ebenezer, who seemed, like Edward, a 
child of God from his mother's womb ; for, surely, during the months 
of his life, he never showed anything which might not become a child of 
God ; and when, in faith, I addressed words of godliness to nourish the 
seed of faith which was in him, his patient heed was wonderful. We 
are much comforted of our heavenly father, and of our dear flock, under 
all our trials. Peace be with you. Farewell ! 

" Your loving and dutiful son, 

"Edward Irving." 

I cannot undertake to account for the sublime unreason 
of this man, who, in faith, addresses words of godliness to the 
dying infant. Perhaps it may want small apology to those 
who, like myself, have seen that solemnity of death shadow- 
ing over a baby-face, of which this "patient heed" gives but 
too pathetic and affecting a picture. But he had long be- 
lieved in the possibility of infant faith, — a point to which 
Coleridge refers, in the Aids to Reflection, as one which he 
will not reply to " honoured Irving " upon, without careful 
consideration of the whole question. This article of faith, 
which may look fantastic enough to cool spectators, the 
father of those dead children has bequeathed to his Church, 
which, I believe, gives children a share in some of its most 
solemn services. Limits of human possibility were never in 
Irving's heart ; he could not understand the existence of any 
soul debarred from communication with that Lord of life in 
whom he had his being ; it was easier far to believe that the 
little intelligence which yet had not dawned into human ex- 
pression, was, in an intercourse even more close than his 
own, hidden with Christ in Grod. 

It is strange to turn from this passion and agony of hu- 
man life, so heavily overcast by the sorrows sent of G-od, and 
the vexations imposed by man, to glance at what the outer 
world was saying, and what miraculous uncomprehension ex- 
isted in the minds of many who came to gaze at the wonders 
in Newman Street. I do not know who the American, Dr 
Addison Alexander, may have been, but I am told he was a man 
of some note in his own country. He was in Irving's church 
on the 10th May, 1833, and sent an account of what he saw 
there to the New York papers. "With American detail, he 
describes the man, the church, and the service — which he 



400 THE "morning watch." 

thought " extremely well contrived for scenic effect ; " then 
added his impression of the demeanour of the preacher. " Dr 
Cox and I," said the self-important Transatlantic spectator, 
" natter ourselves that he observed and preached at us. I 
saw him peeping through his fingers several times, and I 
suppose he was not gratified to see us gazing steadfastly at 
him all the time, for he took occasion to tell the people that 
it would profit them nothing without the circumcision of the 
ear." This was the tone assumed, not by travelling Ameri- 
cans alone, but by all the general public, which imagined 
itself too enlightened to be deceived by any spiritual mani- 
festations. It was a juggle which was supposed to be going 
on before those keen observers ; and the heroic sufferer, who 
stood upon that platform before them, with the heart break- 
ing in his generous and tender breast, was the chief trickster 
of the company, and was supposed to cast jealous eyes upon 
any curious stranger who might " gaze " too " steadfastly," 
and, perhaps, find out the secret of the imposture. In sight 
of such amazing misconception, miracles themselves lose 
their wonder; nothing is so wonderful as the blindness of 
those human eyes, which, " gazing steadfastly " do but de- 
monstrate their own total incapacity to see. 

During this summer considerable accessions were made 
to the separated community. An Independent congregation 
in the city, presided over by Mr Miller, having gone through 
the same process which had taken place in Regent Square, 
attached itself to the new church, its minister being also re- 
ordained angel over it — and the ecstatic voices began to be 
heard in the Church of England, from which they also ended 
by detaching at least one clergyman in London. The most 
singular proof, however, of the advance and development of 
the community, is to be found in the winding up of the 
Morning Watch, and the very remarkable reasons assigned 
for the ending of that strange periodical, the history of which 
breaks in like an episode of pure romance into the duller 
records of ordinary literature. Commenced, at first, to afford 
a medium by which the consultations and conclusions of the 
Albury School of Prophets might be brought before the 
public, it had faithfully followed all the gradual expansions 
of the new Spiritualism. Vague but grand expectations had 
been in the heart of its originators. They believed the Lord 
to be at hand — the world's history to be all but concluded. 
The night was over, the day breaking, when Henry Drum- 
mond and his brother seers set their Morning "Watch upon 
the battlements, that the sentinels might communicate to 



CONCLUSION OF THAT PERIODICAL. 401 

each other how the shadows dispersed, and the gleams of 
coming sunshine trembled from the east. Now a strange 
fruition was coming to those hopes. Not the Lord, indeed 
■ — for the gates of heaven still closed serenely in azure calm 
upon the far celestial glory — but a Church, with all its or- 
ders of ministers, called by direct inspiration, a spiritual 
tabernacle, constituted by God himself, had been revealed to 
their faith ; and all that close band of true believers stood 
breathless with expectation, each man listening whether, 
perhaps, his name might not be the next upon the prophetic 
roll. One by one the sentinels thus summoned dropped into 
other offices ; and at last it became necessary for their leader 
to make the following announcement — such an intimation as, 
I presume, no editor of a periodical ever made before since 
literature was : — 

ie The followers of Christ and the followers of Antichrist are now 
gathering ; each is now requiring, not merely the nominal but the per- 
sonal services of their respective adherents ; Christ is gathering His 
children into the true Church, to do Him service there, and, in so doing, 
to be prepared for His coming ; Satan is gathering his hosts under the 
standard of Liberalism to become the pioneers of that ' wicked one, that 
man of sin, the son of perdition,' the personal Antichrist. 

"In the progress of this work, of gathering and preparing His 
followers, Christ, for some months past, hath been calling for the per- 
sonal services of nearly all the regular correspondents of this journal, 
one after another ; and He hath at length called the editor to take the 
place of an elder in His Church, and hath claimed all his time and 
services for the special duties of feeding and overseeing a sixth part of 
the flock of Christ in London. To this higher calling the editor now 
resolves to devote himself wholly, and at the same time brings the 
Morning Watch to a close, as he will not transfer to any other person 
such a solemn responsibility." 

This singular periodical, a phenomenon in literature, came 
to a conclusion in June, 1833. The March number contained 
several papers of Irving's, and in particular a most striking 
reply to Baxter's narrative — as eloquent an address as one 
man ever made to another, for it is almost entirely a personal 
appeal. "When the Morning Watch ceased to afford him a 
means of communicating his thoughts to the public, Irving 
wrote no more. The only productions of his pen thereafter, 
except the sermons which he still continued to dictate 
wherever he found an amanuensis, were now and then a 
pastoral letter. His intercourse with the world, so far as 
literature was concerned, had now terminated. In every 
way, that intercourse grew less and less. He no longer 
went abroad to preach those open-air sermons, to which, in 

26 



402 irving's difficulties. 

the previous year, thousands listened. Events drew closer 
the circle of fate ; more and more he became isolated in that 
little world, guided by the ecstatic utterance, where daily 
development was taking place. Darkly it appears, through 
the formal records of the official Chronicle, that revolutions 
were being accomplished there, in which his devoted soul 
acquiesced painfully and with difficulty. He had to be in- 
structed even in that new office of Angel, which at first, I 
read in the Chronicle, he did not understand to be " anything 
more than a Presbyterian minister." He had to reconcile 
himself to the newly -bestowed spiritual functions — much 
more wide than those which belonged to the same offices in 
the Church of Scotland — of the elders and deacons, which, 
as the same authority informs us, he " had not the least con- 
ception of," and, at first, entertained " the utmost repugnance 
to." He had to learn, besides, that " after the apostolic office 
had been brought out," it was no longer his part to draw 
conclusions from the prophecies, or to follow their guidance 
upon his own authority, " and so contrary," we are informed, 
"was it to his views and practice" to await the apostle's 
decision upon these matters, " that he still continued to 
judge and act upon words spoken in his flock, whereby great 
trouble and perplexity were occasioned both to himself and his 
people." It is added, however, that "he at length perceived 
his error " in all these particulars ; yet, through the haze 
which envelopes the early growth of so exclusive a body, and 
through all the personal affection which surrounds Irving 
himself, it is plain to see, by glimpses, that this great, real, 
natural soul was again sadly in the way of those rapidly- 
growing new conventionalities to which only the conviction 
that they were ordained by Grod, could make him bow his 
head ; and was once more an embarrassing presence to the 
lesser men around, who knew not how to adapt their vest- 
ments to the limbs of a giant. Prom that dim world no 
more letters come forth to tell us how it is with him in his 
own sincere and unconcealable spirit ; but when, now and 
then, for a moment, some other hand puts back the curtain, 
the picture is sad and full of trouble. His reason and his 
heart struggle against those bonds ; but still he submits — ■ 
always submits, bowing his lofty sorrowful head, on which 
anguish and conflict have scattered premature snows, under 
the yoke. Throughout the Chronicle and other publications 
put forth by the community, this great figure looms always 
with formal acknowledgments made of its greatness, often 
with natural outbursts of affection celebrating its nobility, 






MANY TRIALS. 403 

but, nevertheless, with a certain unexpressed disapprobation 
visibly mingling with all praise. Even the apostles and pro- 
phets are puzzled how to manage a soul so heroically simple, 
a heart so warm. They are tender of his repugnances and 
reluctances, but cannot understand how it is that their re- 
straints irk him. And so it is that his days, which are num- 
bered, glide on out of sight of the world. Outside, people 
imagine him the leader, who has brought and keeps this con- 
gregation together, and by right of whose permission pro- 
phets speak and elders teach ; but in reality, when one looks 
within, the scene is very different. The apostles and prophets 
have patience with him when the light breaks slowly, pain- 
fully, upon his troubled soul ; and, mastering all the preju- 
dices of his life, all the impulses of his will, this martyr, into 
whose lingering agony nobody enters, still bends his head and 
obeys. 

A single example of this, contained in a letter from his 
brother-in-laAV, the lie v. J. Brodie, of Monimail, I may in- 
stance. The Communion was being celebrated in the New- 
man Street Church one Sunday in June, and Mr Brodie, 
then in London on a visit, was present : — 

"After praise and prayer, he (Irving) proceeded to dispense the 
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and pointed ont the character of those 
who were invited to approach, and of those who were unworthy. While 
he was doing this, one of the apostles exclaimed : ' And if there be any 
one who does not acknowledge that the Spirit of God is amongst us, if 
there be any one that doubts the work of the Lord, let him abstain ; 
let the unbeliever depart.' .... Next forenoon, Mr Irving came to 
call for me. I very readily expressed my belief that not a few of those 
who belonged to his congregation were true believers in the Saviour ; 
when he asked me, 'Why, then, did you not come and join with us at 
our Communion ? ' I replied, ' Even if I had desired to do so, how 
could I, after having heard it so plainly stated that all who doubted as 
to the nature of those manifestations were commanded to abstain ? ' 
He paused a moment, and then said, c Ah, yes,' the Spirit hath so 
enjoined us.' I saw that it was not without a struggle that he gave up 
the liberal and truly catholic feeling by which he had formerly been led 
to regard all true believers as brethren." 

How many of such groans burst out of Irving' s labouring 
heart is known only to the Divine Confidant of all his sor- 
rows. The grieved and anxious brother who records this 
incident plied him inevitably once more with argument and 
appeal, representing that "these manifestations were the 
effects of excited imagination." In the midst of the harder 
sacrifices by which he had now to prove his devotion, the 
sufferer's constancy and patience had again and yet again to 



404 EXPECTATION OF POWER FROM ON HIGH. 

go through this trial. He was still remonstrated with about 
that belief which was bringing upon him internal struggles 
more severe than any man knew of ; and still he held to that 
only ground on which he could sustain himself, in forlorn 
but sublime confidence — the conviction that he had asked 
sincerely, and that Grod had answered. But Grod's ways 
were dark to His all-trusting servant — " His footsteps are not 
known." 

Notwithstanding these difficulties, however, a profound 
expectation still moved the community in Newman Street, 
and kept hope and strength in the breast of Irving. The de- 
tails of the living tabernacle were not all that he looked for 
from heaven. The baptism by fire was yet to come, and 
apostolic gifts, more marked and distinctive than the super- 
natural impulses which moved Mr Cardale to confer ordina- 
tion were promised to the faith of the Church. 

The remainder of the year was spent in expectant yet sad 
suspense, waiting for " power from on high," and, when it 
did not come, groaning in heart over that want of faith which 
presented "a let and hindrance to Grod's work," within the 
isolated circle of the Church in Newman Street. Of that 
silent conflict which Irving had now to wage with himself, 
last and perhaps sorest of his trials, there remains no record 
except the scanty intimations in the Chronicle of the reluct- 
ance with which he received various particulars of the new 
order of things. But " light broke in upon his mind," always 
at last — he "confessed his error;" — and so struggled on- 
ward on his sorrowful path, more and more wistfully con- 
scious that Grod's footsteps are not known. 



CHAPTEE XIX 

1834 — THE END. 



The last year of Irving's life opened dimly in the same 
secluded, separated world, within which Providence had 
abstracted him after his re- ordination. He had not failed in 
any of the generous and liberal sympathies of his nature ; 
his heart was still open to his old friends, and responded 
warmly to all appeals of affection ; but the life of a man who 
prayed and waited daily, " yea, many times a day," for the 



SENT TO EDINBURGH. 405 

descent of that " power from on high " which was to vindi- 
cate his faith and confirm his heart, was naturally a separated 
life, incapable of common communion with the unbelieving 
world. And he had paused in those " unexampled labours," 
which, up to the settlement of his Church in Newman Street, 
kept the healthful daylight and open air about him. At the 
end of the year 1832 he and his evangelists had ceased their 
missionary labours ; henceforward nothing but the platform 
in Newman Street, and the care of a flock to which he was 
no longer the exclusive ministrant, occupied the intelligence 
which had hitherto rejoiced in almost unlimited labour. 
Whether there was any new compensation of work in the 
new office of the Angel I cannot tell ; but nothing of the 
kind is apparent. He was not ill, as far as appears, during 
the early part of this silent and sad winter ; but he was de- 
prived of the toil which had hitherto kept his mind in 
balance, and of that communication with the world which 
was breath to his brotherly and liberal soul. No man in the 
world could be less fitted for the life of a recluse than he ; 
yet such a life he seems to have now led, his span of labour 
daily circumscribed as the different " orders of ministries " 
in the new Church developed, and no missionary exertion, or 
new work of any kind, coming in to make up to the mighty 
activity, always heretofore so hungry of work, for this sudden 
pause in the current of his life. 

In January, however, he was sent on a mission to Edin- 
burgh, where a Church had been established under the min- 
istry of Mr Tait, formerly of the College Church. This little 
community had been troubled by the " entrance of an evil 
spirit, from which, in all its deadening effects, his experience 
in dealing with spiritual persons would, it was hoped, be 
efficacious, by the blessing of Grod, in delivering them." He 
seems to have remained but a very short time, and to have 
occupied himself exclusively with his mission. " During the 
week of his residence in Edinburgh at that time, he was oc- 
cupied day and night in public service and private visita- 
tion," writes one of the chief office-bearers in that place, " he 
so discoursed of Grod's truth and doctrine in all the firmness 
of authority and yet gentleness, that he was the means 
whereby that flock was recovered, strengthened, and com- 
forted." Though the Edinburgh public, in much greater 
numbers than could gain admittance, crowded to the place 
of meeting where Mr Tait and his congregation had found 
shelter, the great preacher no longer called them forth at 
dawn to dispense his liberal riches, nor rushed into the 



406 "in subjection." 

chivalrous, disinterested labour of Ms former missions to 
Edinburgh. Wonderful change had come upon that ever- 
free messenger of truth. He came now, not on his own 
generous impulse, but with his iustructions in his hand. 
Always a servant of Grod, seeking to know His supreme will 
and to do it, he was now a servant of the Church, bound to 
minute obedience. 

This change is strangely apparent in the few fragments 
of letters written during this visit, which I have only seen 
since the publication of the first edition of this book. They 
contain no additional facts, nor any details of importance, 
but throw another gleam of melancholy and strange light 
upon the altered circumstances of the man. Tet not melan- 
choly, so far as his own consciousness is concerned ; for it is 
with thankfulness he describes a condition which to the out- 
side spectator looks so much like bondage. " This day has 
been most blessed to us all," he writes, on Sunday evening, 
the 2nd February. " The Church met at ten o'clock, and 
while I was in doubt what to teach, the Lord, before the 
service began, opened the mouth of the prophet to encourage 
the flock to bow their understandings, and guide me to teach 
the manner of Grod's worship, of the holy race, and the altar, 
which I did forenoon and afternoon, with greater presence 
and power of teaching than I ever felt. ... In the evening 
the power came upon the prophet to direct me to Ezekiel 
xxxvii., which I chose of myself, and had power to minister 
it, marvellous to myself." A few days later he writes in evi- 
dent weariness : — " Ofttimes I would long to be in London, 
if I were not upon my Master's business. Oh, it is a weary 
and laborious service ! I say not pray for me, because I 
know well, yea, and feel well, how I am remembered by you 
all." " I feel as if this week would bring my labours to an 
end here," he concludes on the 9th of February. "Whether 
the Lord hath anything more for me at present in Scotland, 
I wait to see : but surely by His grace I will go after none 
unless it come seeking me, and I will not go to it, except it 
be within the bounds of my commission. I am conscious of 
coming greatly short, and yet of greatly strengthening this 
flock, and of depositing the seeds of precious truth. It is 
very laborious, but I trust the Lord will strengthen me." 
It is needless to point out the wonderful difference between 
this limited and restrained mission and the exuberant labours 
and triumphs of his former visits to Scotland. He was now 
" in subjection," as he himself says, and bore the yoke with 
his usual loyalty and humbleness. 



IS NO LONGER HIS OWN MASTER. 407 

Some time after, Mrs Irving wrote to her mother, that 
" Edward was truly grieved that it was not in his power to 
go to see you, but his time is truly not his own, neither is 
he his own master." From this mission he returned very 
ill, with threatenings of disease in his chest ; and, though he 
rallied and partially recovered, it soon became apparent that 
his wearied frame and broken heart were unable to strive 
longer with the griefs and disappointments which encom- 
passed him, and that the chill of this wintry journey had 
brought about a beginning of the end. 

A month after Irving's visit to Edinburgh, the apostles, 
of whom there were now two, Mr Cardaie and Mr Drum- 
mond, proceeded there to ordain the angel over that Church, 
and from Edinburgh visiting several other towns in Scotland, 
were some time absent from the central Church. During 
that interval, a command was given " in the power," in New- 
man Street, to which Irving gave immediate obedience. It 
concerned, I think, the appointment of a certain number of 
evangelists. After this step had been taken, the absent 
apostles heard of it, and wrote, declaring the new arrange- 
ment to be a delusion, and rebuking both prophet and angel. 
The rebuked prophet withdrew for a time in anger ; the angel 
bowed his loftier head, read the letter to the Church, and 
confessed his error. Thus, amid confusions, disappointments 
— long lingering of the promised power from on high — sad 
substitutions of morsels of ceremonial and church arrange- 
ment for the greater gifts for which his soul thirsted — the 
last spring that he was ever to see on earth dawned upon 
Irving. As it advanced, his friends began to write to each 
other again with growing anxiety and dread; his sister-in- 
law, Elizabeth, describing with alarm " the lassitude he ex- 
hibits at all times," and bitterly complaining that he had 
neither time nor possibility of resting, surrounded as he was 
by the close pressure of that exclusive community, " the 
members of his flock visiting him every forenoon from 11 to 
1 o'clock," and the anxieties of all the Church upon his head. 
Kind people belonging to the Church itself interposed to 
carry him away, in his exhaustion, on the Monday mornings, 
to rest in houses which could be barricaded against the 
world — a thing which, in Edward Irving's house, in the 
mystic precincts of that Church in Newman Street, was 
simply impossible ; and, when he had been thus abstracted by 
friendly importunity, describe him as stretched on a sofa, in 
the languor of his fatigued and failing strength, looking out 
upon the budding trees, but still in that leisure and lassitude 



408 RE- APPEARANCE OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

turning his mind to the work for which his frame was no 
longer capable, dictating to some ready daughter or sister of 
the house. As he thus composed, it was his wont to pause, 
whenever any expression or thought had come from him 
which his amanuensis could have any difficulty about, to ex- 
plain and illustrate his meaning to her favoured ear, — neither 
weakness, nor sorrow, nor the hard usage of men being able 
to warp him out of that tender courtesy which belonged to 
his nature. 

In this calm of exhaustion the early part of the year 
passed slowly. He still preached as usual, and was at the 
command of all his people, but appeared nowhere out of their 
close ranks. In July, he wrote a letter, characteristically 
minute in all its details, to Dr Martin, bidding him " give 
thanks with me unto the Lord for the preservation of your 
daughter and my dear wife from an attack of the cholera," and 
relating the means which had been effectual in her recovery. 

This is the only glimpse which I can find of him till 
he reappears finally in September, in all his old individual 
distinctness, softened by his weak bodily condition, with a 
grave gentleness and dignity, and the peace of exhaustion 
breathing in everything he does and says. He had been by 
"the power" commissioned, as a prophet to Scotland, to do 
a great work in his native land some time before. The ex- 
planation given by his alarmed and disapproving relatives of 
his journey is that the time had now arrived for that great 
work, and that he was authoritatively commanded to go forth 
and do it. The representatives of the Church in Newman 
Street, however, do not admit this. " It was not without 
remonstrance on the part of many," but " we were met by 
the suggestion that it was his native air," writes an influen- 
tial member of the community. They yielded, however, to 
his own wish, which was to wander slowly through the coun- 
try, wending his way by degrees to Scotland, with the hope 
of gaining strength, as well as doing the Lord's work, by the 
way. He had been warned by his doctor that the only safe 
thing for him, in the condition of health he was in, was tn 
spend the winter in a milder climate ; and when, notwith- 
standing this advice, his anxious friends saw him turn his 
face, in the waning autumnal days, towards the wintry north 
instead, it is not wonderful that they should add the blame 
of this to all the other wrongs against his honour and hap- 
piness of which they held the prophets of Newman Street 
guilty. However that may be, it is apparent that the spiritual 
authorities of his own Church, perhaps aware that no induce- 



PROJECTS HIS JOURNEY. 409 

merit would lead him to seek health, for its own sole sake, in 
any kind of relaxation, finally gave their full countenance to 
the journey upon which he now set out in confidence and 
hope. 

It is singular, however, to note how, as soon as he emerges 
from his seclusion in Newman Street, he regains his natural 
rank in a world which always had recognized the simple 
grandeur of his character. Away from that Church, where 
he rules, indeed, but must not judge, nor act upon even the 
utterances from heaven, except on another man's authority 
— where he is censured sometimes and rebuked, and where 
his presence is already an unacknowledged embarrassment, 
preventing or at least hindering the development of all its 
new institutions — the free air of heaven once more expands 
his forlorn bosom. In the rural places where he goes there 
is no man "worthy" who does not throw open his doors to 
that honoured guest, whose greatness, all subdued and 
chastened by his weakness, returns to him as he travels. 
Once more his fame encircles him as he rides alone through 
the unknown country. It is Edward Irving, of tender 
catholic heart, a brother to all Christians, whose thoughts, 
as he has poured them forth for ten eventful years, have 
quickened other thoughts over all the nation, and brought 
him many a disciple and many a friend in the unknown 
depths of England, and not merely the Angel of the new 
Church, who goes softly in his languor and feebleness to the 
banks of the Severn and the Wye. I cannot but think that 
the leaders of the community must have felt — to judge by 
the sentiment which is apparent in their publications — a 
certain relief,* perhaps unconscious to themselves, when he 
left them : he whom it was impossible not to be tender of, 
but whose enlightenment was slower and more difficult than 
they could have desired ; and for himself I cannot doubt that 
the relief was even greater. He had escaped away to the 
society of his Lord — to the silent rural ways, where no ex- 
citement disturbed the musing of his soul ; to the company 
of good men, who were not disposed to argue with him, 

* I have to explain again, and repeat it earnestly, that I believe this feel- 
ing to have been unconscious to a great extent, and entirely unexpressed — 
such a tacit unacknowledged sentiment as arises sometimes between those 
most closely hound to each other, when with love and union unimpaired 
they are unable for the moment to see " eye to eye." I regret that the state- 
ment should have given pain to any of those who in living and dying were 
Irying's closest friends and brethren ; but I cannot retract it further than by 
this explanation of my meaning. It implies no contention or usurpation of 
his rights. 



410 THE HAND OF THE LORD UPON HIM. 



the 
Ion 

sts, 



whom, unconsciously, he had helped and enlightened in 
liberal and princely years that were past. So he left London 
and the battle-field, never more to enter those painful lists 
nor be lost amidst the smoke of that conflict — and went 
forth, in simple dignity, to a work less hard than he dreamed 
of, unwitting to himself, leaving his passion and anguish be- 
hind him, and turning his fated steps towards the hills with 
no harder thing on hand than to die. 

He left London without any apparent presentiment that 
this parting was the last, and gave his final benediction to 
the children whom in this world he was to see no more. They 
were three whom he thus left fatherless : one only, the 
Maggie of his letters, old enough to understand or remember 
her father ; the youngest an infant a few months old. The 
first point in his journey was Birmingham, from whence he 
begins his letters to his anxious wife ; the next is Blymhill, 
near Shiffnel, where he describes himself to have arrived, 
" bearing the hand of the Lord upon me, yet careful enough 
and contented enough," and where his friends find him. a 
horse on which to pursue his way. On the 6th of September, 
still lingering at this place, " visiting the brethren," which he 
speaks of as " strengthening and fitting me for the journey," 
he tells his Isabella that " the Lord deals very tenderly with 
me, and I think I grow in health and strength. "What I 
could not get in London or Birmingham," he adds, with 
quaint homeliness, " I found lying for me here — the gift of 
Mr Cowper, of Bridgenorth, a sort of trotcosie of silk oilcloth, 
which will take in both hat, and shoulders, and cheeks, and 
neck, and breast. I saw the hand of Providence in this." 
Here he is troubled by his own inadvertence in having dated 
a check, which he gave in payment for his horse, " London — 
little thinking that this was a trick to save a stamp. I am 
very sorry for this, but I did it in pure ignorance." Next 
day he is at Bridgenorth, in trouble about his little boy, who 
is ailing, and on whose behalf he directs his wife to appeal to 
the elders for such a visitation as had been, according to his 
belief, so effectual in her own case. " Ask them to come in 
after the evening service, when I shall separate myself to 
the Lord with them," says the absent father, whose heart is 
with his children, and who, after many anxious counsels 
about the little four-year-old boy, sends a message to tell 
him that " the horse is brown, with black legs." Next day 
he resumes : " I did separate myself, according to my promise, 
and was much distressed by the heavy and incessant judg- 
ments of the Lord, and afterwards I had faith to plead the 



HIS ANCIENT COUNSELLOR. 411 

promise that tlie prayer of faith should heal the sick." "This 
Bridgenorth is one of the most beautifully-situated towns I 
ever saw," he continues, and proceeds to describe the route 
which he meant to adopt, to his wife. After recording the 
expenses to which his horse and saddle had put him, he adds : 
" But no matter — I feel that I am serving the Lord daily, 
and I think He daily giveth me more strength to serve Him." 
On the 10th of September he is again at Blymhill, where he 
lingers to receive the visits of some brethren in the neigh- 
bourhood, and to prove his horse, " which goes well." The 
friends who detain him in this quarter seem to be the clergy- 
men of the place. " I am greatly pleased and comforted," 
he says, "by all that I [hear] about Henry Dalton's two 
flocks, and have no doubt that the pleasure of the Lord is 
prospering in his hands ; nor am I less pleased here with Mr 
Brydgeman, whose labours for the Lord are very abundant." 
Prom Blymhill he also writes to Mr Hamilton, committing 
into his hands the management of his business affairs with 
his former publishers ; a commission which he introduces by 
the following affecting preface : — 

" My dear Brother Hamilton, — Although we have parted com- 
pany in the "way for a season, being well assured of the sincerity and 
honesty of your mind, and praying always that you may be kept from 
the formality of the world in divine things, I do fondly hope that we 
shall meet together in the end, and go hand in hand, as we have done 
in the service of God. And this not for you only, but for your excel- 
lent wife, whose debtor I am many ways. On this account, I have 
always continued to take your counsel and help in all my worldly mat- 
ters, as in former times, though God, in His goodness, hath given me 
so many deacons and under-deacons worthy of all confidence. But I 
cannot forget, and never will, the assiduous kindness with which you 
have, ever since I knew you, helped me with your sound judgment and 
discretion in all temporal things ; and sure am I that I should be glad 
as ever to give you my help in spiritual things as heretofore. I could 
not, without these expressions of my hearty, faithful attachment to 
you, and of my grateful obligations for all your past kindness, introduce 
the business upon which I am now to seek your help." 

All the literary business in which Irving was now con- 
cerned seems to have been the settlement of his accounts 
with his publishers. Some balances appear to have been 
owing him. But I have been told, I cannot say with what 
truth, that he derived little pecuniary advantage, at any time, 
even from his most popular publications. 

A few days later, he writes the following descriptive let- 
ter to his children : — 



412 LETTER TO HIS CHILDREN. 

"Ironbridge, Shropshire, 16th September, 1834. 

" My dear Children, Margaret and Martin, — This place from 
which I write you is named Ironbridge, because there is a great bridge 
of iron, which, with one arch, spans across the river Severn, and there 
is another, about two miles farther up the river, where there are the 
ruins of an ancient Abbey, in which men and women that feared God 
used, in old times, to live and worship Him. The walls of the ruin are 
all grown over with ivy. Your father stopped his horse to look at 
them ; and six miles farther back there was an old grey ruined wall in. 
a field, which a smith by the road -side told me was the ruins of an an- 
cient Roman city, named Uriconium, which once stood there 

Your father has ridden from Shrewsbury this morning, where he parted 
with his dear friend, the Honourable and Reverend Henry Brydgeman, 
who is a very godly man, and has been wonderfully kind to your father. 
He has six sons and only one daughter, all little children, the eldest not so 
big as Margaret ; and I am writing to Bridgenorth to another dear 
friend, the Rev. Henry Dalton, who has no children yet. You must 
pray for both these ministers, and thank God for putting it into their 
heads to be so good to your father. 

" Now, concerning the house and the oak-tree in which the King was 
hidden and saved. There have been eight Kings since his time and one 
Queen — Queen Anne, whose statue is before St Paul's Church, in 
London. This King's name was Charles, and his father's name was 
Charles, and therefore they called him Charles the Second. The people 
rose up against his father, and warred against him till they took him, 
and then cut off his head at Whitehall, in London ; and his poor son 
they pursued, to take him and kill him also, and he was forced to flee 
away and hide himself, as King David did hide himself. The house is 
only three miles from Mr Brydgeman's, so we mounted our horses and 
away we rode — Mr Brydgeman in the middle — till we came to a gate 
which led us into a park, and soon we came to another gate, which 
opened and let us into the stable yard, and there we dismounted from 
our horses. . . . The master of the house and his family were gone, and 
there were none but a nice, tidy, kind woman, who took us through the 
kitchen into an ancient parlour all done round the walls with carved 
oak, just as it was when the King hid himself in the house. And there 
was a picture of the King. Then we went upstairs into an ancient bed- 
room, whose floor was sore worn with age, and by the side of this bed- 
room was a door leading into a little, little room, and the floor of that 
room lifted up in the middle, and underneath was a narrow dark dun- 
geon or hiding-place, in which the King of all this island was glad to 
hide himself, in order to escape from his persecutors ; this narrow place 
opened below, by narrow stairs, into the garden, where is a door in the 
wall, hidden behind ivy. Then we went up another stair to the garret, 
and at the top of it there was another board in the floor, that lifted up, 
and went down by a small ladder into another hiding-place. But all 
these hiding-places were not enough to hide the King from his persecut- 
ors, — armed soldiers on horseback, who entered the house to search it. 
Then the King fled out by the door behind the ivy in the garden, and 
leapt over the garden wall into a field, and climbed up an oak-tree, and hid 
himself among its thick branches. Papa saw this tree. It is done round 






BEAUTY AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE LAND. 413 

with a rail, to distinguish it from the rest, and to keep it sacred 

Then the soldiers, not finding him in the house, galloped about into the 
wood, and passed under the very tree ; but God saved the King, and 

they found him not There are many lessons to be learned 

from this, which your dear mother will teach you, for I am tired, and 
my horse is getting ready. So God bless you, and your little sister, 
and your dear mother, and all the house. Farewell ! 

" Your loving father, 

"EDWD IfLVING." 

After this, his correspondence is exclusively addressed to 
his wife, and continues, from point to point along his 
journey, an almost daily chronicle : — 

" Shobdon (half way between Ludlow and Kington), 
Thursday, 18th September, 1834. 

" My dearest "Wiee, — In this beautiful village, embowered with 
trees and clothed with ivy and roses, in the little inn — where are 
assembled the last remains of a wake, which has holden since Sunday — 
from a little bar-room or parlour within the ample kitchen, where they 
are playing their drunken tricks with one another — I sit down to write 
you. I know not wherefore I went to Shrewsbury,* but wherefore I 
returned to Bridgenorth I discern was for seeing Mejanel, and opening 
to him the whole state of his soul, in the presence of Mr Dalton, and 
with his confirmation ; and I do hope it will lead to that repentance and 
cleansing of heart which may prepare him for the ordination of the Lord, 
which, I trust, will not be delayed, in the great mercy and goodness of 
our Lord. I charged him f at no rate to go to France without ordina- 
tion, and I think I prevailed with him 

" But, oh ! how shall I describe the beauty and the blessedness of 
the land through which I have travelled these three days. Whether it 
be that the riding on horseback gives time for the objects to enter and 
produce these impressions, I know not, but it seems to me as if I had 
never seen the beauty and the fatness of the land till now. I am filled 
with the admiration of it. My way to Ludlow lay over the ridge which 
joins the two Clay (or Clee) mountains, and as they rose before me, in 
their blue and naked majesty, out of the ripe vegetation and abundant 
wood of the country around, I was filled with delight. My road, both 
yesterday and to-day, though a turnpike road, is out of the great lines, 
and I was as solitary and sequestered as I could have wished ; leaving 

me much opportunity of communion with God I keep this 

letter open till I come to Kington. My dinner, ham and egg, a cold 
fowl, an apple-tart and cheese, a tumbler of cider, a glass of Sicilian 

* He had, however, in a former letter, described to his wife the impulse 
he felt to seek out a young surgeon, whom he believed to be in Shrewsbury, 
who was in danger of falling from the faith, but who, he found on going there, 
had left the place. 

f The person here referred to was a French preacher, who had been a 
very prominent figure in the excitement which attended the origin of the 
" gifts " in Scotland. — See Memoir of Mr Story of Rosneath. 



414 YOUNG CLERGYMEN. 

Tokay, of which Mr Brydgeman put two bottles in my saddle [bags]. 
.... I am safe in Mr Whalley's, and have passed a good night. Tell 
your dear mother I had such a memento of Kirkcaldy Manse — ginger 
wine in a long-necked decanter. .... Love and blessing to the chil- 
dren, and to all the house. 

" Your faithful and loving husband, 

"Edwd Irving." 

" Ross, 23rd September. 
" I have ten minutes to the post, being just arrived at Ross. A 
Mr Davies came to Kington, and invited me to Hereford, and gathered 
an inquiring people, whom I instructed, under Mr Davies' authority, as 
his chaplain. He has ridden thus far with me, and goes on to Mon- 
mouth, where I expect to be at tea. I am getting daily better. The 
Lord bless you all ! " 

" Chepstow, 26th September. 
" I was greatly comforted by your letter last night, having been in 
great distress of soul for dear Martin ; and I give thanks to the Lord, 

who hath preserved him Say to Mr T that I spent a most 

agreeable night and forenoon at his brother's, and that I feel my going 
to Monmouth was very much for his sake and wife's, both of whom, I 
think, are not far from the kingdom of heaven. I also saw and con- 
versed much with the Eev. Mr Davies, of whom I thought very highly. 
.... Here, at Chepstow, the seed has indeed been sown by Mr 
Sturgeon, and I am watering it with words of counsel and instruction, 
teaching them the way of worshipping God, and encouraging them to 
gather together and call upon His name. I think there is the founda- 
tion of a Church laid in this place. Now, my dear wife, I am surely 
better in my health, for my appetite is good, and my pulse is come to 
be under 100. The Lord's hand I feel to be with me, and I believe that 
I am doing Him service, Farewell ! the Lord be your stay." 

" Raglan (half way to Crickhowel), 
Saturday, 27th September. 
" The inn here, at which I have just arrived to breakfast, is also the 
post-office, and I have about three quarters of an hour to write you. 
My visit to Chepstow, I feel, hath been very well bestowed. I had the 
people two nights to Mrs Sturgeon's, and they came in great numbers, 
and I had great presence and power of the Lord in ministering to them 
the two chapters which we offered in the family worship, Luke xi. and 
Matthew xxv., and great, I am persuaded, will the fruits of Mr 
Sturgeon's ministry here be. But the thing wherein the hand of the 
Lord is most seen is His bringing me into contact and conference with 
all the young clergymen round about. At Tintern, which is two-thirds 
of the way from Monmouth to Chepstow, I rested my horse, while I 
went to see the famous ruins of the abbey. I had not been within the 
abbey walls five minutes when there was a ring for admittance, and t\, o 
young men of a scholar-like appearance came in. One immediately 
came forward and saluted me with information that his father, a barrister 
in Dublin, had once been entertained in our house, and the young man 






HEALING BOTH TO BODY AND SOUL. 415 

with him was also a clergyman ; — with both of them I have had much 
close conversation, and with two at Chepstow. . . . My time is ex- 
hausted : I will, therefore, speak of myself. I think I may say I am 
indeed very much better, and hardly conscious of an invalid's feelings. 

I continue to use Mr Darling's prescriptions, and find the good 

of them. Now, as concerneth speaking, I am fully persuaded, by ex- 
perience, that it is the proper exercise of the lungs, and, being taken 
in measure, it is always good for me. But nothing has done me so much 
good as to hear of dear Martin's recovery. That was indeed healing 
both to body and soul." 

" Crickhowel, 28th September. 
<f I arrived here safe and in good order, horse and man, last night ; and, 
because they could not get a messenger over to Mr Waddy, who lives 
about two miles off, I made my arrival known by a note to the Rev. 
T. Price, Mr Tudor's friend, who came to the inn very speedily, and 
took me up to his house to spend the evening. I find him much in- 
structed in the truth, but holding it rather by the light of the under- 
standing than by the faith of the Spirit ; still he is, as I judge, one by 
whom the Lord will greatly bless this principality, through the contin- 
ual prayer of the Church. Oh ! tell Mr Tudor to keep Wales upon his 
heart, and Price and Scale. Scale is the young man at Merthyr Tydvil, 
who breakfasted with us once. He is a precious man — one set of the Lord 
for a great blessing, I am convinced, though the time be not yet fully 
come. He rode over to-day, and poor Waddy had ridden early all the 
way to Abergavenny, six miles back on the road, thinking to find me 
there, and ride in with me : but I had resolved that the Christian Sab- 
bath should not fall beneath the Jewish in being a day of entire rest 
for man and horse. Mr Price is a great Welsh scholar, a literary and 
patriotic man, full of taste and knowledge ; youug — that is, within my 
age — a bachelor, whose wife, I fear, is more his books than the Church 
as yet. Yet I love him much, and owe him much love. I breakfasted 
with him this morning, and afterwards went to the church in this place, 
where an aged man, Mr Yaughan, who fears God much, is the minister ; 
for Mr Price went to serve a church in Welsh some three miles off. . . 
We did not meet till the interval, when we all went over to Mr Price's 
other cure, a church over the water, close by. He preached on the 
coming of the Lord, a short but true sermon. Then afterwards he 
asked me, at the request of the family, to go with him to a sick lady, 
who had been prayed for, and gave the whole household ministry into 
my own hand. The rest of the evening I have spent with the three 
brethren, Price, Scale, and Waddy, and having supped upon a piece of 
bread and a tumbler of precious beer, homebrewed, I sit down to write 
to you before I offer up my worship and go to rest. Now, my dear, I 
think it rather of the Lord that we should remain apart till I be brought 
home in the good time of the Lord It is a trial to me to be se- 
parated from you in many ways, and chiefly in this, that I may testify 
to you the new love with which God hath filled my bosom towards you ; 
that I may bear you ever upon my arm, as I do now bear you upon mv 
heart." 



416 BIRTH-DAY LETTER. 

" Builth (border of Radnor and Brecon), 
29th September. 
" I am again returned to the banks of the Wye, and shall ascend it 
to near its summit in ' huge Plinlimmon.' Of all rivers that I have seen, 
the grace of its majesty surpasseth. I first came in sight of its scenery 
as we rode to Hereford, a few miles from Kington ; and as far as the 
eye could stretch up to the mountains from which it issued, it seemed a 
very wilderness of beauty and fruitfulness. My eye was never satisfied 
with beholding it. But how impossible it is to give you an idea of the 
vast bosom of Herefordshire as I saw it from the high lands we cross on 
the way to Boss ! . . . My soul was altogether satisfied in beholding the 

works of my God But the valley of the Usk, where Crickhowel 

is, hath a beauty of its own, so soft, with such a feathery wood scatter- 
ed over it, gracing with modesty, but not hiding, the well-cultivated 
sides of the mountains, whose tops are resigned to nature's wildness. 
.... Now, my dearest, of myself : I think I grow daily better by daily 
care and the blessing of God upon it. I ride thirty miles without any 

fatigue, walking down the hills to relieve my horse I have you 

and the children in continual remembrance before God, and them also 
that are departed, expressing my continual contentedness that they are 
with Him. Now, farewell ! say to Martin that I am going to write him 
a letter about another king, St Etkehed." 

This promised letter to his little son was never written ; 
but there breaks in here a birthday epistle to the little Mag- 
gie of his heart : — 

" Aberystwyth, Oct. 2nd, 1834. 
" My dear Daughter Margaret, — This is your birthday, and I 
must write you a letter to express a father's joy and thanksgiving over 
so dear a child. Your mother writes me from Brighton, that Miss Rooke 
has written to her such an account of your diligence and obedience. It 
made me so glad that you were beginning to show that you are not only 
my child, but the child of God, regenerate in Baptism. Bring thou forth, 
my sweet child, the fruits of godliness daily, more and more abundantly. 
I am now got to Aberystwyth, and dwell upon the shore of the sea, in 
the same house with Mr Carre, who goes out and preaches every even- 
ing at five o'clock, and I go out and stand beside him. You will delight 
to hear that I am much better, through the goodness of God ; and that 

I hope to be quite well before I reach Scotland I beseech you, 

my beloved child, to have your soul always ready for the hand of the 
Lord, who is your true Father. I am but his poor representative. Now, 
blessings be upon thee, and dear Martin, and dear Isabella ! I pray God 
to keep you many years in health, and afterwards to receive thee to His 

glory Remember me with affection to all the house ; and be assured 

that I am 

" Your loving father, 

" Edwd Irving." 

He then resumes the chronicle of his journey : — 



WELL-SUNNED, WELL- AIRED MOUNTAINS. 417 

" Aberystwyth, October 3rd. 
" I wrote to Maggie yesterday, which, with a letter to Mr Whally, 

I found occupation enough The letter I wrote you from Builth 

was too late for the post. That day was the sweetest of all my journey, 
for it was among the well-sunned, well-aired mountains, where every 
breeze seemed to breathe health upon me. My road during the morning 
was up rough, and, in many places, wooded glens ; but after passing 
Rhyadher, where I breakfasted, I cleared the region of cultivation, tak- 
ing the hill-road to what they call the Devil's Bridge, or Havod Arms, 
an inn within twelve miles of Aberystwyth. Among the sheep and the 
sheepfolds I found that air which I wanted ; hunger came hours before its 
time, and I seemed to feel the strength of my youth. I do not find it 
so by the shore of the sea, though this be assuredly a sweet and healthy 
place, at the opening of a short valley, which in five or six miles carries 
you into the bleak air of the mountains. It will give you some idea of 
my returning strength when I tell you that next morning I arose at seven, 
and, with the Boots of the inn for my guide, descended to the bottom 
of that fearful ravine of roaring cataracts, 320 feet below the level of 
the road, and ascended again, and surveyed them one by one with great 
delight This Aberystwyth is against letter-writing. I was inter- 
rupted yesterday ; and so I will interrupt my description, and leave it 
for a letter to dear Maggie. The house of Mrs Brown was open to me, 
and a bed prepared for me. Mr Carre also abides under her roof since 

her son came home Mr Brown has the felicity of seeing his family 

joined together in one mind No doubt they have all to be tried, 

and their faith is yet but in its infancy ; but it is most heart-cheering to 
see the house of one mind. Since my coming, Mr Brown has opened his 
house at morning and evening worship to ' those who are godly disposed, 5 
where I have had an opportunity of instructing and counselling many 
of the Lord's people. Dear Carre preaches in the open air at the head 
of the Marine Parade, where the main street of the ancient town de- 
scends into the noble crescent which hath been builded of late years for 
the accommodation of the company who chiefly resort from the West of 
England hither for the sea-bathing and sea-air ; and he was wont to open 
the Scriptures further, within-doors, at seven, to those who came to Mr 
Brown's ; but now that he has seen the better way of combining domes- 
tic worship with that household ministration, I think he will adopt it, 
and continue what I have begun. Mr Brown departs for his cure at Mad- 
dington on Wednesday next week. 

" Harlech, Merionethshire, 7th October. 
" I write you from the inn which overlooks one of the three strong 
castles with which Edward III. did bridle all this region of North Wales. 
It stands frowning, like the memory of its master, over land and over 
sea. Out of the window, where I have dined, I have seen the most beau- 
tiful sunset, full of crimson glory, with here and there a streak of the 
brightest green. It was at the time that I was with you all in spirit in 
Newman Street, and I took it as a figure of the latter-day glory. Yes- 
terday I set out from Aberystwyth, from that dear family, who were all 
up to see me off at seven o'clock ■ and, being mindful of Dr Darling's 
words, rode enveloped in India rubber to Machynlleth (which being 

2J 



418 CADER-IDRIS. 

pronounced is Machuntleth). This was a stage of eighteen miles before 
breakfast ; nowise particularly interesting . . . But from Machynlleth to 
Dolgelly is by the foot of Cader-Idris, a mountain surpassed by none, 
if equalled by any, for its rugged majesty and beauty. I had much 
communion with God in the first part of this stage, for the Church, for 
Mr Car dale, but above all, for you and for all who have received from 
us life. When I descended upon the base of Cader-Idris, on my left 
hand there shot out a vista towards the sea, which terminated in a clear 
and bright sky. I cannot describe the pleasure which I had in looking 
away from the terrible grandeur of Cader-Idris, down that sweet glade 
opening into the beautiful skies. But it was the instant duty of myself 
and horse to cross up a shoulder of the mountain and get on our way. . 
. . . About six I arrived at my inn, and was much refreshed by my din- 
ner and bed. This morning I sent my horse early down to Barmouth, pro- 
posing myself to come by a boat, which, I was told, sailed at half-past 
nine and got down in forty minutes — all to see the scenery, which is 
very, very beautiful upon the estuary or loch ; but when I came to the 
boathouse, about two miles walking, I found the boat would not be 
there for more than an hour, would tarry some time, and then had a 
rough sea and rough head-wind to sail with. My purpose was to be here 
before the meeting of the church, and this is ten miles from Barmouth. 
There was nothing for it but to ferry over the water, and walk the re- 
maining eight miles, along with three skinners going thither on their busi- 
ness, men in whom was the fear of God. I gave them my great-coat to 
carry, and walked by the rough side of the loch with a strong wind ahead, 
and was no worse, but I thought rather the better for it. Then I rode 
hither, and being all alone, have been more with you than with myself. 
Truly the Lord hath laid Mr Cardale upon my heart, and the whole 
Church, and all those to be presented, and I have prayed for them every 
one, according to my discernment. Show this sentence to Mr Cardale, 

or transcribe it, for I am not able to write to-night, and this to 

Mr Woodhouse — (two sentences in Latin are here inserted in the manu- 
script). It is not because I may or can not trust you, most trustworthy 
wife, that I write these answers in Latin, but because I would not take 

you out of your place Now the peace and blessing of the Lord be 

with you and all the house." 

" Bangor, 9th October. 
" My dearest Wiee, — Eor I have heart and strength to write only 
to you ; indeed it is in my heart to write many letters ; but a due sense 
of my duty of resting when the labours of the day are over holds my 
hand, and I have committed my flock into the Shepherd's hand. I rode 
from Harlech, before breakfast, along the sea-shore until we found an 
inlet to follow up, at the head of which sits Taw-y-bwlch, in such still- 
ness and beauty, among the most sublime and beautiful mountain-scen- 
ery. Oh ! it is a place of peace and repose ! Thence I crossed rugged 
and barren mountains, with occasional views of the ocean, until the road 
swept up a mountain-pass of great sublimity, and opened at the head of 
it upon Beddgelert, a place of the like character with Taw-y-bwlch, but 
not so sequestered. (This is for Maggie, but it is profitable to us all.) 
Beddgelert means, ' the grave of Gelert.' Gelert was a hound of match- 



BEGINNING OF THE END. 419 

less excellences The hound fell at his master's feet, and breathed 

out his life in piteous moanings. He was hardly dead when the babe 
awoke from some place of greater security whither the dog had carried it, 
and when they looked beneath the bed they found a mighty and fero- 
cious wolf, whose mangled body showed what a desperate conflict poor Ge- 
lert had waged that day for his master's infant. Ah, me ! what faithful- 
ness God hath put into the hearts of his creatures ! what pure love must 
be in His own ! The name Bedd-Gelert commemorates that event. Here 
I had a harper to play to me the choicest of the old Welsh airs, Of a 
noble race was Shen/cin, The March of the men of Harlech, &c. The old 
blind man was very thankful for a sixpence, and I taught him how to 
use his harp as David had done, in the praise of his God. Erom thence 
I set myself to begird the roots of Snowdon, for he covered his head 
from the sight of man. I had seen his majestic head lifted above the 
mountains, from Aberystwyth, and it is the only sight I have had of him. 
He is the monarch of many. The mountains stand around him as they 
shall stand around Zion. When I was seeking to disentangle the per- 
fect form of one of them from the mist, which I thought must surely be 
he, a countryman told me my mistake. That beautiful sunset which I 
saw at Harlech yielded only wind ; and as I rode up these defiles the 
wind was terrible. It made the silken shroud over my shoulders rattle 
in my horse's ears until he could hardly abide it ; and, in truth, I had 
to take it off, for the bellowing of the wind itself was enough for the 
nerves of man or horse. I never endured such a battery of wind. I ar- 
rived at my inn a little after the setting of the sun — Dolbaddon, an inn 
like a palace. Thence I rode this morning to Carnarvon, secluded on 
the outgoing of the Menai Straits ; and I turned off my road to look at 
the bridge — that wonder of man's hand. And now here I am in the very 
house of the Shunamite woman, for though it is an inn like a castle, the 
Penrhyn Arms, mine hostess is a very mother. Mr Pope is resident here, 
having married a wife of the daughters of the land. To him I wrote a 
letter of brotherly love ; but it hath been in vain, I fear. The Lord's 
will be done. Now I doubt that this is too late for the post ; but come 
when it will, let it come with the blessing of God upon you and upon all 
the house. I begin to feel a strong desire that you were with me. I 
do not know, but it may be well to commit that thing to the Lord 
against the time I reach Glasgow." 

" Flint, Saturday Night, 11th October. 
" I am still able to praise the Lord for his merciful and gracious 
dealings ; though these two last days, or rather the two before this, have 
been days of trial to me. When viewing the Menai Bridge I got wet by 
a sudden gust driven through the straits by the wind, and though I put 
on my cloak, and changed all at that motherly inn, I had a very fevered night, 
and was in a very fevered state next day. Still I felt my horse's back 
and the beautiful day to be my medicine, and rode to Conway very 
slowly, having a good deal of headache. There I found myself little bet- 
ter, and the inn being kept by a surgeon, I was greatly tempted to take 
his advice. My spirits sank for one half -hour, and I had formed the 
serious resolution of turning into the sick-room. But I remembered the 
words of the Lord upon my journey, and ordered my horse, and having 



420 LEGEND FOR MAGGIE. 

now not more than two hours of good daylight I rode with great speed, 
and, as it were, violently. This I soon discovered to be my remedy ; for 
while the cool air fanned the heat of my lungs and carried it off, the 
violent riding brought out a gentle perspiration, until I came to the 
hotel at Abergele, where I gave myself with all my heart to cry to the 
Lord. I drank copiously of tea, and had gruel, and bathed my feet, which 
God so blessed, that when I awoke this morning, the feeling of all with- 
in my breast was such that I exclaimed, ' Can it be that I am entirely 
healed ! ' But I soon found that the Lord's hand is still upon me. Yet 
am I sure that I received a very great deliverance that night. To-day 

my headache has returned, with sickness 

" This is for Maggie. At the mouth of the Conway was a weir for 
catching fish, which belonged in very ancient times to the brother of the 
lord of these parts about Great Ormeshead. He had a son named Elfin, 
who had wasted all his substance, and wearied out his father's goodness, 
and was brought to great straits. He begged, as a last boon from his 
father, the weir for one night, thinking to catch many fish. But in the 
morning there was not one, only there was a basket, and a baby in it. 
He took the infant boy, and was careful of his upbringing. This boy 
grew to be Taliesin, the prince of all the British bards, who afterwards 

lived to reconcile his patron with his father God keep you all, my 

dear children, and make you more and more abound to His glory." 

" Flint, 12th October. 

" The service is in Welsh this forenoon, and so I am at my inn, where 
indeed they have most tenderly treated me. It is English in the even- 
ing, and, God willing, I will go up to His house. Now, my dear, I write 
you again this day, though it will be the companion of my last night's 
letter, to express my decided judgment that you should not any longer 
be separated from me. My God is sufficient for me, I know ■ and He 
hath been my sufficiency during these three days and nights of the 
sharpest fiery trial, both of flesh and heart, which I have ever proved. I 
believe that upon my saddle, and by the strength of faith, I have fought 
against the most severe bilious fever. How in the night seasons the 
Psalms have been my consolations against the faintings of flesh and 
heart ! And I believe God hath guided me to do things which were the 
very means of dispelling those fears and troubles. Last night I slept 
well from half-past nine till two, then I counted the hours as they 
chimed out from the clock on the staircase ; and so I lay, parched with 
thirst and inward heat, and yet chilly, my head full of pain, my heart of 
fainting, but my faith steadfast. I felt that there was much of nervous- 
ness in it, and that by strong act I must dissolve it. The footpan, with 
the water that had been hot, but now was wintry cold (for last night 
was very chill), stood by the bed-side, and a little jug which had contain- 
ed boiling water to keep up the temperature, was standing by its side. 
It was the breaking of the morning. I threw off flannels and stockings, 
and stood with my feet in the cold water, and poured with the jug the 

cold water from my shoulders downward and all at once was a 

changed man, and had some winks of sleep. 

" And again, when I had desired the maid to bring mybreakfast to 
me in bed, purposing to keep my bed all day, or some considerable part 






RENEWED ILLNESS : YEARNS FOR HIS WIFE. 421 

of it, it occurred to me that this also was yielding to the disease, and I 
instantly arose, dressed myself, ate my breakfast — a mutton chop, stale 
bread, and tea, and went out and walked for half an hour by the sea- 
shore, breathing such health and sweetness from the air of heaven. 

" (Monday night, Liverpool, Mr Tarbet's). — The Lord hath made 
vain the remedies of man. The last three days have been the days and 
nights of sorest trial I ever had. . . . The fevered heat of my hands and 
head in the night season, and the sleepless hours appointed to me, are in- 
deed a new thing in the history of my trouble. Yet I am strong, witness 
my riding this day twenty-four miles. Nor have I any fears of myself ; 
but I am strangely, strangely held, deeply afflicted. I felt myself shut 
up to the necessity of going direct from Liverpool to Greenock by the 
steamboat. I have written my mother, and proposed going that way, but 
have put it off. God may give me liberty as I return. Now I feel un- 
able to take care of myself, and my calm judgment is that you should be 
my nurse and companion. I write not these things to trouble you, but 
to put you in possession of the truth. I will any way abide your answer 
here. ... I now think Maggie should not come. In great haste, not to lose 
the post, 

" Your faithful and loving husband, 

" Ed wd Irving. 

" Oh, how I have longed after you in heart and spirit ! " 

" Liverpool, 13th October. 

" My dearest Isabella, — . . . Last night I had comparatively 
good rest, and was able to keep down the fever and prevent the perspir- 
ation by timeous sponging with vinegar and water. What it indicates 
I know not, but I have had to-day and last night a good deal of those 
cold creepings upon the skin which Dr Darling used to inquire about. 
I think, before you leave London, you should let him know these things. 
There is nothing I have kept back from you. 

" Now, my dear, I have sought to serve God, and I do put my trust 
in Him ; therefore I am not afraid. He hath sore chastised me, but not 
given me over to death. I shall yet live and discover His wonderful 
works. I have oft felt as if one of the ends of the Lord in His visita- 
tion were to constrain me to send for you at this point of my progress ; 
and that another was to preclude me from further journeying on horse- 
back into these parts of England, and into Scotland. At the same time, 
in your coming, if you see it your duty to come, proceed tenderly and 
carefully in respect to yourself, coming by such stages as you can bear. 
I hope you will find me greatly better under this quiet and hospitable 
roof. 

" Be of good courage, my dear wife, and bear thy trials, as thou hast 
ever done, with yet more and more patience and fortitude. It will be 
well with the just man at the last. . . . Now farewell. The blessing of 
God be upon you all. 

" Your faithful and loving husband, 
" Edwd Irving." 

Thus ended for ever the correspondence between the hus- 
band and wife. The history of that lingering journey, with its 



422 ALARM OF HIS RELATIONS. 

breezes of health, its hopes of recovery, its pauses of refresh- 
ment among the sweet "Welsh valleys, where the parish priests 
of a national church more powerful but less absolute than his 
own, opened wide their doors and their hearts to his presence and 
his counsels ; the bits of legend picked up for his little Maggie ; 
the silent progress along mountain-paths, all sanctified with 
prayer, where "the Lord laid" such a one "on his heart ;" 
the forlorn temerity with which, fainting and fevered, he pushes 
on, no longer aware of the landscape or of the people round 
him, brought down to bare existence, hard enough ado to 
keep his frame erect on the saddle, and to retain light enough 
to guide his way in those dimmed eyes ; the yearning that seizes 
upon him at last for the companion of his life, bursting out 
pathetically in that exclamation which he puts down, after his 
letter is finished, at the end, in an irrepressible outcry — " Oh, 
how I have longed after you in heart and spirit ! " — all is clear- 
er written in these letters than in anything that could be add- 
ed to them. His wife obeyed his call at once, and joined him 
in Liverpool. Again her sisters write to each other, wring- 
ing their hands with a grief and impatience which can scarcely 
express itself in words. " Isabella set off for Liverpool on Thurs- 
day," says Mrs Hamilton ; " in her letter she says she found 
Edward looking much worse than when he left home, his 
strength considerably reduced, and his pulse 100. Notwith- 
standing this, they were, she said, to sail for Glasgow on Mon- 
day, and so proceed to the ultimate object which was in view 
in Mr Irving' s leaving home, — his going to Glasgow to organize 
a church there. Oh me ! it is sad, sad to think of his deliber- 
ately sacrificing himself ! Dr Darling has decidedly said that 
he cannot, humanly speaking, live over the winter, unless he 
retire to a milder climate and be entirely at rest. Yet at 
this inclement season they proceed northward, and take that 
cold and boisterous passage too, by way of making bad worse." 
No wonder those affectionate spectators were touched with the 
anger of grief in their powerless anguish, finding it impossible 
to turn him for a moment from the path to which he believed 
himself ordained, and compelled to look on and see him con- 
summate all his sacrifices with this offering of his life. 

The weather was boisterous and stormy, but the dying 
apostle — who was not an apostle, nor, amid all the gifts that 
surrounded him, anyway gifted, except as God in nature and 
grace had endowed His faithful servant — did not depart from 
his purpose. He went to Greenock, accompanied by his wife, 
whose heart was delivered from all wifely and womanish terrors 
by undoubting confidence in that " word of the Lord " which 






ENTERS GLASGOW. 423 

bad promised him a great and successful mission in Scotland. 
At Greenock they seem to have encountered Mrs Stewart Ker, 
a lady of singular piety, whom Irving valued highly, and whose 
remarkable letters, though not published, are known and prized 
by many good people. In one of these letters, dated October 
25th, 1834, she thus describes his changed appearance, and the 
manner in which he entered Glasgow : — 

" To human appearance he is sinking under a deep consumption. 
His gigantic frame bears all the marks of age and weakness ; his tre- 
mendous voice is now often faltering, and when occasionally he breaks 
forth with all his former feeling^ one sees that his bodily powers are ex- 
hausted. Add to all this the calm chastened dignity of his expression — 
his patient waiting upon God for the fulfilment of His purposes to him- 
self and his flock through this affliction, and it is exceedingly edifying. 
... I was going to Glasgow with them ; and just before we left the 
house, he lifted up his hands in blessing, commending them (the family 
under whose roof he was) to Jesus, and to the reward of His grace, for 
their kindness to him. I had a great deal of conversation with him in 
the boat. ... In driving through the crowded streets of Glasgow, he 
laid aside his hat and exclaimed, ' Blessed be the name of the Shepherd 
of Israel, who has brought us to the end of our journey in the fulness 
of the blessing of the Gospel of Peace ! ' and continued for some time 
praying." 

It was thus, with uplifted hands and words of thanksgiving 
and blessing, that he entered Glasgow. He thought he had a 
great work to accomplish in that centre of life and wickedness 
and sorrow ; and so he had ; but it was no longer to labour or 
battle that God called His servant. He was not destined to de- 
scend from the height of hope, which still trembled with the 
promised lustre of " power from on high," to the chill land of 
shadows and disappointment, and deferred blessings that lay be- 
low. But it was a surprise which his Master had prepared for 
him, — a nearer road to the glory and the perfection that he 
dreamed of — not to work nor to fight, but to die. 

Here once more, and for the last time, Irving took the pen 
in his trembling hand, and revealed himself in the fast-closing 
twilight of his life. He wrote two pastoral letters from Glas- 
gow, containing most pathetic acknowledgment * of the sins 
by which he and his Church had " let and hindered " the 
work of God — sins which, if they were anything more special 
than that general unbelief and slowness of heart with which 
every apostle has had to upbraid his fellow- Christians, are 

* This confession seems, so far as I can make out, to refer specially to 
his mistake in acting upon a command, given by one of the gifted persons, 
without the authority of the apostle. See page 407. 



424 FLESH AND HEART FAINT AND FAIL. 

lost in the mysterious records of the Church, and unintelligible 
except to those who may be thoroughly acquainted with all 
the details of its origin. His last private letter, written only 
ten days before his death to his " dear brother," William 
Hamilton, lies under no such obscuring haze, — but gives with 
sad and affecting simplicity a final glimpse of his fainting flesh 
and trusting soul : — 

" You will be sorry to hear," he writes with the restrained utterance 
of weakness, " that I continue very weak. Indeed, the Lord has now 
permitted me to be brought very low ; but my trust and confidence is 
in Him only, and not in any other, and when He sees fit He will renew 
my strength. Oh, my brother, cleave you to Him ! He is the only re- 
fuge. Isabella is in excellent health, and sustained under all her trials. 
Samuel was with us yesterday. He is quite well, though much troubled 
for me, as I believe all my friends are/ 5 

These were the last words of private affection which drop- 
ped from his feeble pen. Amid the friends who were all trou- 
bled for him, he was the only one unmoved. He had not yet 
come to the discussion of that last question, which like all the 
rest was to be given against him, but still smiled with a heart- 
breaking confidence over the daily dying of his own wasted 
frame, waiting for the wonderful moment when Grod should 
send back the vigorous life-current to his forlorn and faithful 
heart. 

The last scene of the history now approaches rapidly. 
For a few weeks he is visible about Glasgow — now appearing 
against the sunshine in a lonely street, his horse's hoofs 
echoing slowly along the causeway, his gaunt gigantic figure 
rising feeble against the light ; now in the room which his 
Glasgow disciples have found to meet in — still preaching — 
recognizing one of Dr Chalmers's old " agency " who comes 
to see him after the service, and recalling, with the courtesy 
of the heart, to his wife, who has forgotten the stranger, 
the familiar Kirkcaldy name he bears ; walking home after 
the worship is over, fain to lean upon the arm of the elder 
who has come hastily from London to be near him, while his 
wistful wife goes mournful by his side, carrying the stick 
which is now an insufficient support to his feebleness — some- 
times pausing, as they thread the streets in this sad fashion, 
to take breath and gather strength ; a most sorrowful, pa- 
thetic picture. The hearers were few in the Lyceum room, 
in comparison with former times ; but in the street, as he 
passed along, many a sad glance followed him, and the people 
stood still, with compassionate looks, to point out to each 



HIS CERTAINTY OF RECOVERY. 425 

other "the great Edward Irving." His friend, Mr Story, 
came hurriedly up from Rosneath to see him, with hopes of 
persuading him thither, to that mild climate and tranquil 
seclusion ; but found he had gone down to Erskine, on the 
opposite bank of the Clyde, to consult Dr Stewart, the phy- 
sician-minister, with whom, in joyful youthful days, these 
two had spent their Saturday holidays in the East Lothian 
Manse. Neither Dr Stewart nor any man could aid him 
now. He came back to the house of the kind stranger and 
enthusiastic disciple who had taken him in, in Glasgow, and, 
nature refusing longer to keep up that unreasonable conflict, 
lay down upon the bed from which he was never to rise. 

Dr Rainy, who attended him, informed me of various par- 
ticulars in these last days ; but indeed, so touched with tears, 
after nearly thirty years' interval, was even the physician's 
voice, and so vivid the presentment of that noble, wasted 
figure stretched in utter weakness, but utter faith, waiting 
for the moment when Grod, out of visible dying, should bring 
life and strength, that I cannot venture to record with any 
distinctness those heart-breaking details. By times, when 
on the very verge of the grave, a caprice of sudden strength 
seized the patient ; he sighed for " Grod's air " and the out- 
door freshness which he thought would restore him. He as- 
sured the compassionate spectator, whose skilled eyes saw the 
golden chords of life melting asunder, how well he knew that 
he was to all human appearance dying, yet how certainly he 
was convinced that Grod yet meant to raise him ; and again, 
and yet again, commended " the work of the Holy Grhost " to 
all faith and reverence ; adding, with pathetic humility, that 
of these gifts he himself had never been "found worthy." 
Never death-bed appealed with more moving power to the 
heart. His mother and sister came to see him, but I know 
nothing of the intercourse between that sorrowful mother 
and the last and greatest of her sons. His life-long friends 
from Kirkcaldy were also there to watch by his bed, to sup- 
port the poor wife, whose confidence gave way at last, and 
who consented, with such pangs of natural love and disap- 
pointed faith as it would be hard to estimate, that the " word 
of the Lord" must have had some other interpretation — that 
Grod had no purpose of interposing, in visible power, for his 
deliverance, and that Edward must die ; and their home let- 
ters give the clearest picture of Irving's last hours. With 
fluctuations of despairing hope, Dr Martin and his son wrote 
to the anxious sisters. Sometimes there were better symp- 
toms — gleams of appetite, alleviation of pain ; but throughout 



426 AT THE GATES OF HEAVEN. 

all, a burning fever, which nothing could subdue, consumed 
away the fainting life. " Tour mother and I are at Mr Tay- 
lor's," writes Dr Martin, on the 4th December ; " he is a most 
devout believer in the reality of the gifts, of Mr Irving's 
divine commission, &c, and has hardly ever faltered in his faith 
that Edward is still to recover strength; till this morning 
Isabella has never had a doubt of it." This was on Thurs- 
day. As the week waned, the frame which enclosed that 
spirit, now almost wholly abstracted with its God, died 
hourly. He grew delirious in those solemn evenings, and 
"wandered" in his mind. Such wandering! "So long as 
his articulation continued so distinct that we could make 
anything of his words, it was of spiritual things he spoke, 
praying for himself, his church, and his relations." Some- 
times he imagined himself back among his congregation in 
London, and in the hush of his death chamber, amid its awe- 
stricken attendants, the faltering wice rose in broken breath- 
ings of exhortation and prayer. " Sometimes he gave counsel 
to individuals : and Isabella, who knew something of the cases, 
could understand" what he meant. Human language has 
no words, but those which are common to all mental weak- 
ness, for such a divine abstraction of the soul, thus hovering 
at the gates of heaven. Once in this wonderful monologue 
he was heard murmuring to himself sonorous syllables of 
some unknown tongue. Listening to those mysterious sounds, 
Dr Martin found them to be the Hebrew measures of the 
23rd Psalm — " The Lord is my Shepherd," into the latter 
verses of which the dying voice swelled as the watcher took 
up and echoed the wonderful strain — "Though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." As 
the current of iife grew feebler and feebler, a last debate 
seemed to rise in that soul which was now hidden with G-od. 
They heard him murmuring to himself in inarticulate argu- 
ment, confusedly struggling in his weakness to account for 
this visible death which at length his human faculties could 
no longer refuse to believe in — perhaps touched with in- 
effable trouble that his Master had seemed to fail of His 
word and promise. At length that self-argument came to a 
sublime conclusion in a trust more strong than life or death. 
As the gloomy December Sunday* sank into the night 
shadows, his latest audible words on earth fell from his pale 
lips. " The last thing like a sentence we could make out was, 
' If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen.' " And so, at the 
wintry midnight hour which ended that final Sabbath on 
* December 7th. 



HE DIED AND WAS BURIED. 427 

earth, tie last bonds of mortal anguish dropped asunder, 
and the saint and martyr entered into the rest of his Lord. 

Amen ! He who had lived to God, for so many hard and 
bitter years enduring all the pangs of mortal trouble — in his 
Lord at last, with a sigh of unspeakable disappointment and 
consolation, contented himself to die. I know not how to 
add anything more to that final utterance, which rounds into 
a perfection beyond the reach of art, this sorrowful and 
splendid life. So far as sight or sound could be had of him, 
to use his own touching words, he had " a good voyage," 
though in the night and dark. And again let us say, Amen ! 

They buried him in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral, like 
his Master, in the grave of a stranger — the same man who 
had first introduced him to London coming forward now to 
offer a last resting-place to all that remained of Edward 
Irving. He was followed to that noble vault by all that 
was good and pious in Glasgow, some of his own personal 
friends, and many of his immediate followers, mingling in the 
train with the sober members of Dr Chalmers's agency, and 
" most of the clergy of the city," men who disapproved his 
faith while living, but grudged him not now the honour due 
to the holy dead. The great town itself thrilled with an in- 
voluntary movement of sorrow. "Every other consideration," 
says the Scottish Guardian, a paper at all times doubly ortho- 
dox, " was forgotten, in the universal and profound sympathy 
with which the information was received," and all voices 
united to proclaim over him that divine consolatory verdict 
of the Spirit, " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." 
There he lies, in such austere magnificence as Scotland has 
nowhere else preserved to enshrine her saints, until his Lord 
shall come, to vindicate, better than any human voice can do, 
the spotless name and honour of His most faithful servant 
and soldier. So far as this volume presents the man him- 
self, with his imperfections breaking tenderly into his natural 
grandeur, always indivisible, and moving in a profound unity 
of nature through such proof of all sorrows as falls to the 
lot of few, I do not fear that his own words and ways are 
enough to clear the holy and religious memory of Edward 
Irving of many a cloud of misapprehension and censure of 
levity ; and so far as I have helped this, I have done my task. 

He died in the prime and bloom of his days, forty-two 
years old, without, so far as his last writings leave any trace, 
either decadence of intellect or lowering of thought; and 
left, so far as by much inquiry I have been able to find out, 



428 A SAINT AND MARTYR. 

neither an enemy nor a wrong behind him. No shadow of 
nnkindness obscures the sunshine on that grave which in old 
days would have been a shrine of pilgrims. The pious care 
of his nephew has emblazoned the narrow Norman lancet 
over him with a John Baptist, austere herald of the cross 
and advent; but a tenderer radiance of human light than 
that which encircled the solitary out of his desert, lingers 
about that resting-place. There lies a man who trusted Glod 
to extremity, and believed in all Divine communications with 
faith as absolute as any patriarch or prophet ; to whom mean 
thoughts and unbelieving hearts were the only things mi- 
raculous and out of nature ; who desired to know nothing in 
heaven or earth, neither comfort, nor peace, nor rest, nor any 
consolation, but the will and work of his Master, whom he 
loved — yet to whose arms children clung with instinctive 
trust, and to whose heart no soul in trouble ever appealed in 
vain. He was laid in his grave in the December of 1834 — a 
life-time since ; but scarce any man who knew him can yet 
name, without a softened voice and a dimmed eye, the name 
of Edward Irving — true friend and tender heart — martyr and 
saint. 



ODEX. 



Abeona, tlie, The Loss of, a paper of 
I.'s in Fraser's Magazine, 246. 

Advent, the Second, I.'s expectation 
of, 198 ; first conference at Albury 
concerning, 204 ; effect produced 
by the fall of Napoleon on the 
mind of a believer in, 206. 

Adventure, a holiday, 62. 

Adventurers, I.'s remarks on Scottish, 
135. 

Albury. See Conference. 

Angel of the Church, the, necessity of 
instructing I. in the duties of, 402. 

Annan, birth of I. at, 1 ; tombstone 
of one of the parish ministers of, ib. ; 
state of society in, 3, 4 ; the clergy- 
man of, 4 ; the only representative 
of the "Irvingites" in, 7; I. at 
the Academy of, 8 ; singular des- 
tiny of three boys of, 14 ; leisurely 
industry of the population of, ib. ; 
humorous account of I.'s first ser- 
mon at, 36 ; his ordination in the 
parish church of, 75 ; marriage visit 
to, 89 ; interesting account of a 
pedestrian journey to, 116; I.'s 
labours among his own people in, 
227 ; determination to bring him 
to trial by the Presbytery of, 385 ; 
I.'s trial at, 391 ; exciting scene in 
the parish church of, 394. 

Annandale, I.'s delight in the tradi- 
tions of, 5, 396. 

Apocalypse, the, I.'s attention turned 
to the study of, 105 ; excitement 
caused by his Lectures in Edin- 
burgh on, 228. 

Apocrypha, the, controversy in the 
Bible Society with respect to, 215. 

Appointment, a forgotten, consequen- 
ces resulting from, 62. 

" Argument for Judgment to Come," 



the, a work of I.'s, publication of, 
83 ; origin and nature of the work, 
85. 

Armstrong, the Rev. Nicholas, a cler- 
gyman of the Church of England, 
his adherence to I. after the mani- 
festation of the "tongues," 371. 

Asylum, the Caledonian, connection 
of the Caledonian Chapel, Hatton 
Garden, with, 70. 



Lon and Infidelity Foredoom- 
ed," by I., publication of, 107. 

Bakers, Scottish journeymen, I.'s 
friendly address to, 270. 

Baptism, change in I.'s views on, 
111 ; question as to the mode of 
administering, 255. 

Baptism, Lectures on, by I., the pub- 
lication of, 216 ; testimonies to the 
value of, 245. 

"Baptism with the Holy Ghost," a 
work of I.'s, publication of, 336. 

Bathgate, anecdote of I. on a flying 
visit to, 267. 

Baxter, Mr Eobert, of Doncaster, 
one of the prophets, extracts from 
the narrative of, 344 ; acknow- 
ledgment of self-delusion by, 357 ; 
the authoritative declaration of, 
379 ; pamphlet entitled " Irving- 
ism" by, 381. 

Beauty, visible, its tendency to culti- 
vate the sensual part of human na- 
ture, 128. 

Beckenham, retirement of I. to, 201. 

Bedd-Gelert, I.'s relation of the le- 
gend connected with, for the bene- 
fit of " Maggie," 419. 

Belfast, I.'s reckless voyage to, and 
adventure in, 48. 

Belles, religious, 175. 



430 



INDEX. 



Ben Ezra, I.'s touching allusion to 
the death of his first child in the 
preface to, 114 ; his translation of 
the Coming of the Messiah hy, 
and influence of the work on his 
own mind, 199 ; the preface to, 
206. 

Bible Society, the, controversy relating 
to the Apocrypha in, 215 ; commo- 
tion caused by I.'s appearance at a 
meeting of, ih. 

Billingsgate, I.'s visit to an Infant 
School in, 108. 

Birmingham, amusing anecdote of 
two little ballad-singers of, 260 ; 
I. conducted to the wrong Mr Mac- 
donald's at, 261. 

Blind John, the classical attainments 
of, 9. 

Bond, a, required by the Church of 
Scotland before the ordination of 
a minister to a congregation, 72. 

Bookstalls, the temptation of, 125. 

Borthwick, Mr, member of the Third 
Albury Conference, 273. 

Bridges, Mr, Edinburgh, anecdote il- 
lustrative of I.'s tact with children 
when on a visit to, 228. 

Brougham, Lord, I.'s opinion of, 129, 
145. 

Brydgeman, Rev. Mr, a friend of I.'s, 
reference, in a letter, to, 412. 

Burns, Gilbert, brother of the Poet, 
I.'s intimacy with, 26. 

Caird, Mrs. See Campbell, Mary. 

Caledonian Chapel, Hatton Garden, 
I.'s account of the circumstances 
under which he was called to, 68 ; 
absurd stipulation .interfering with 
his appointment to, 70; another 
difficulty preventing his ordination 
over, 71 ; his first sermon in, 77 ; 
introduction by Chalmers to the 
congregation of, 78; the embar- 
Tassing crowds that flocked to, 82 ; 
continued flow of fashion to, 103 ; 
I.'s regret at the paucity of young 
Scotsmen joining, 192. 

Campbell, the Rev. Mr, of Row, his 
first interview with I., 232 ; his 
visits to, and sermons in, London, 
237 ; deposition of, 314 ; his in- 
ability to see any signs of inspira- 
tion in the utterances of the " pro- 



phets," 386 ; letter on spiritual 
manifestations from I. to, ib. 

Campbell, Isabella, of Fernicarry, a 
youthful saint, the Bev. Mr Story's 
life of, 277. 

Campbell, Mary, of Fernicarry, I.'s 
account of the first display of the 
unknown tongues by, 287 ; the 
miraculous restoration to health of, 
289 ; the proceedings in London 
of, 346. 

Canning, the commencement of I.'s 
popularity attributed to a speech 
in the House of Commons by, 79. 

Cardale, Mr, I.'s adviser on his trial 
before the London Presbytery, 356; 
the interdict put on I. in Newman 
Street explained by, 396 ; re-ordin- 
ation of I. by, 398. 

Cardale, Miss, utterances in the 
known and unknown tongues by, 
331. 

Carlyle, Thomas, Edinburgh, the ad- 
vocate of I. and of the Bev. Mr 
Maclean, 315. 

Carlyle, Thomas, the celebrated au- 
thor, I.'s fellow- student at Edin- 
burgh, 19 ; schoolmaster at Kirk- 
caldy contemporaneously with I., 
40; allusions, in I.'s letters, to, 
46, 117 ; explanation of perplexing 
singularities of I.'s later life, by, 
211; I.'s meeting at Dunscore with, 
265 ; I. remonstrated with on his 
proceedings by, 342. 

Catholics, I.'s adherence to the un- 
popular side on the question of the 
emancipation of, 199. 

Chalmers, Dr, inquiries, with the 
view of obtaining I. as an assistant, 
made by, 47 ; expedient for the 
relief of the country announced by, 
55 ; the autocracy, in the parish of 
St John's, Glasgow, set up by, 56 ; 
I.'s testimony to the benefit he 
had enjoyed in being associated 
with, 66 ; introduction of I. to the 
congregation of the Caledonian 
Chapel by, 78 ; dedication of the 
" Orations " to, 85; the last ser- 
mon preached in Glasgow by, 88 ; 
complaint of the length of I.'s ser- 
vices by, 209 ; doubts as to the se- 
curity of I.'s position in London 
entertained by, 210; remarks on 



INDEX. 



431 



I.'s Edinburgh Lectures on the 
Apocalypse by, 229 ; silence main- 
tained, during the controversies on 
heresy, by, 283 ; his interest ex- 
cited by the remarkable manifesta- 
tions, 290 ; reference in his diary 
to his final parting with I., 294. 

Chalmers, Mr James, I.'s inroad on, 
209. 

Children, I.'s solemn habit of pro- 
nouncing the benediction over, 59 ; 
anecdote of his familiarity with, 
258. 

Cholera, an attack of, subdued by 
faith, 374. 

Christ, the character, work, and offices 
of, as set forth in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, 131 ; analysis of a 
sermon on life in, 132 ; illustration 
of the truth that there is no differ- 
ence in, 142 ; why the Lord's 
prayer was not concluded in the 
name of, 171 ; doctrine maintained 
by the Church of Scotland as to 
the headship of, 197 ; I.'s tract on 
the orthodox and catholic doctrine 
of the Human Nature of, 278. 

" Christ's Holiness in the Flesh," a 
work of I.'s, account of his inter- 
view with the Eev. Mr Cole, 222, 
and of the first movements against 
him, in the preface to, 304 ; the 
publication of, 310. 

Christian, a, death-bed of, 169. 

Christian Instructor, the, enters the 
lists against L, 279 ; I.'s regret at 
the ignorance displayed by the 
Scotch clerical writers 'of, 282. 

Christison, Professor, of Edinburgh, 
an early patron of I.'s, 20. 

Church, the, the power of magistrates 
in, 122 ; its similitude to a house, 
156 ; ministerial authority in, 159; 
intellectual and sensual forms of 
worship in, 160 ; the spirits abroad 
in, 174 ; desirable New Testament 
History of, 180 ; a true apostolic, 
247. 

Church and State, origin and nature 
of authority in, 121 ; I.'s opinions 
regarding, 268. 

Church, the Catholic Apostolic, the 
sole representative of, in Annan, 8 ; 
origin of the early morning service 
in, 311 ; origin of Evangelists in, 



346 ; the first congregation of, 369 ; 
the gradual development of, 380 ; 
accessions to, 400. 

Churches, National. See England and 
Scotland. 

Church, the National Scotch, Eegent 
Square, foundation of, and sermons 
preached on the occasion, 102 ; I.'s 
visits to inspect the progress of, 124, 
185 ; completion and opening of, 
207 ; unanimity of the congrega- 
tion assembling in, 208 ; I.'s chang- 
ed position after his removal to, 
211 ; his presentation of two silver 
salvors to the Session of, 214; 
statement made by the Kirk Ses- 
sion of, on the charge of heresy ad- 
vanced against them and their 
minister, 307 ; petition for a Na- 
tional Fast presented by the con- 
gregation of, 308 ; position assum- 
ed by I. and the members of, 310 ; 
astonishing voices and strange 
bursts in, 323 ; commotion in the 
congregation of, 324 ; letter from 
I., on the future order of worship, 
to the trustees of, 335 ; meetings 
of the Trustees and Session of, 
339 ; proceedings taken against I. 
by the office-bearers of, 347 ; re- 
moval of I. from the charge of, 
366 ; the congregation prevented 
from celebrating their last commu- 
nion in, 368. 

Church, St George's, Edinburgh, 
amusing incident in, 25. 

Clapperton, Hugh, the African tra- 
veller, I.'s early association with, 
and friendship for, 14. 

Clergyman, a Scotch, melancholy 
story of the sister of, 161. 

Clydesdale, religious ferment in, 277. 

Cole, Rev. Mr, charge of heresy made 
against I. by, 220 ; the means to 
satisfy himself taken by, 221 ; ac- 
count by I. of his interview with, 
222. 

Coleridge, the Poet, I.'s introduction 
to, and intercourse with, 92 ; dedi- 
cation of his Missionary Sermon to, 
97 ; reference to, in a letter from I. 
to his wife, 110; visits of Chalmers 
and I. to, 290, 291. 

Communicants, young, interview with, 
and address to, 193. 



432 



INDEX. 



Communion, the secret of, 128 ; pri- 
vate conversations with candidates 
for, 136, 138. 

Conference, the First Alhury, I.'s ac- 
count of 204 ; Mr Drummond' s 
opinion as to the necessity of a 
more careful selection of memhers 
for the second, 243. 

Conference, the Second Albury, I.'s 
account, in a letter to his daughter, 
of, 251 ; letter from Dr Martin, 
Kirkcaldy, on, 252. 

Conference, the Third Albury, 272 ; 
record of, 273. 

Conference, the Fourth Albury, no- 
ticed by I. in a letter to his wife, 
296. 

Confession of Faith, the Westmin- 
ster, I.'s preference of the original 
standards of the Scottish Church 
to, 337. 

Continental Society, the, sermon 
preached by I. on behalf of, 104 ; 
dissatisfaction expressed by the sup- 
porters of, 106. 

Convicts in prison, I.'s ministerial 
visits to, 64. 

Convocation Book, Bishop Overall's, 
I.'s frequent study of, 121, 123, 
140. 

Country, the state of, in 1819, I.'s 
opinions regarding, 53, 54 ; Chal- 
mers's expedient for the relief of, 
55. 

Covenanters, the, traditions in An- 
nandale of, 5 ; beneficial influence 
produced by the recollection of, 6 ; 
I.'s delight in listening to narra- 
tions of the lives of, 12 ; strug- 
gles for tbe headship of Christ 
maintained by, 197. 

Critics, I.'s criticisms on his, 90. 

Cunningham, Allan, introduction of 
I., by Sir David Wilkie, to, 82. 

Cunningham, Mr, of Harrow, 143. 

Dalzell, Miss, establishment of local 

Sunday schools by, 120. 
Daughter, a, birth, life, and death 

of, 115. 
Dictionary, a useful, 191. 
Dinwiddie, Mr, one of I.'s friends 

and office-bearers, passim. 
Dissenters, Scottish Presbyterian, 

characteristics of, 12. 



Dissenters, I.'s hostility to, 241 , 244. 

Divinity Hall, the, Edinburgh, I.'s 
first year at, 20 ; his " partial " 
studies at, 21. 

Doctrine, vanity of, when the spirit 
is gone, 178. 

Dods, Rev. Marcus, letter sent by I. 
on the question of the incarnation 
to, 279. 

Dodsworth, Bev. Mr, a member of 
the Albury Conference, 273. 

Dornoch, one of the acknowledged 
characters of, 1 ; I.'s visit to, 9. 

Dow, Bev. Mr, a member of the Al- 
bury Conferences, 273 ; a recipient 
of the gift of tongues and prophecy, 
391. 

Dream, a remarkable, 173. 

Driving, reckless, amusing anecdote 
of I.'s, 62. 

Drummond, Henry, a supporter of 
the Continental Society, 104; more 
witty than spiritual, 176 ; charac- 
ter and position of, 203; one of 
the founders and supporters of the 
Catholic Apostolie Church, 378; 
his mission to Scotland, 407. 

Dublin, preaching of I. in, 300. 

Duncan, Bev. Dr, author of several 
works on Natural History, one of 
I.'s judges, 385* 

Dundee, I.'s allusion, in a letter, to 
the offer of a Chapel-of-Ease in, 71. 

Ecclefechan, I.'s early pilgrimages 
to, 1 1 ; a Seceding Church at, ib. ; 
impressive character of the scenery 
around, 13. 

Ecclesiasticus, the "Wisdom of, 146. 

Edinburgh, establishment of Edward 
and John Irving in the Old Town 
of, 17 ; I.'s lodgings in Bristo 
Street, a locality frequented by 
students in, 41 ; his discouraging 
position while residing in, 44 ; ex- 
citement caused by his lectures on 
the Apocalypse among the inhab- 
itants of, 228 ; publishing negotia- 
tions with the booksellers of, 239 ; 
visit of the Apostles, Cardale and 
Drummond, for the appointment 
of an Angel over the Church in, 
467. 

Edinburgh, the University of, I. com- 
mences his studies at, 15 ; position 



INDEX. 



433 



of youthful students at, 16 ; I. 
takes his degree at, 18 ; termina- 
tion of his theological studies at 
the Divinity Hall of, 35 ; pro- 
secutes his studies in Chemistry 
and Natural History at, 42 ; re- 
marks on the theological course of, 
254. 

Education in Scotland, the state, at 
a former period, of, 8. 

Edward, Little, I.'s first child, his 
pathetic remembrance of, 114; 
night visions of, 123 ; verses copied 
to console the mother of, 127 ; the 
ministry of, 150; tender reminis- 
cences of, 194. 

Eloquence, I.'s early, the only re- 
maining records of, 80. 

England, the Church of, I.'s convic- 
tion of the apostolic character of, 
247 ; he joins in the communion 
of, 273. 

Erskine, Mr, of Linlathen, his con- 
viction that a new revelation had 
been granted, 290. 

Evangelicalism, I.'s opinion regard- 
ing the influence exercised on Scot- 
tish women by, 7. 

Evangelists, the, of the New Apo- 
stolic Church, the zealous ministry 
of, 346. 

Evans, Sarah, the "Wild Girl," 139; 
her desire to confess, 160. 

Eancourt, Miss, allusion to the won- 
derful case of, 304. 

East-day, solemn, observed, in me- 
mory of his brother John's death, 
by I., 3. 

Fergusson, Mr, I.'s brother-in-law, 
letter to, describing the state of 
Glasgow on I.'s arrival in that 
city, 54. 

"Elesh," the, how its encumbrance 
ought to be regarded by a true be- 
liever, 134. 

Fraser's Magazine, touching allusions 
to I. contained in, 103 ; paper on 
the manifestation of spiritual gifts 
communicated by I. to, 275. 

Erere, Mr Hatley, new scheme for 
the interpretation of prophecy 
enounced by, 104 ; I. instructed 
in the principles of the new system 
by, 105 ; dedication by L, of his 



work entitled Babylon and Infi- 
delity Foredoomed, to, 107. 

Gaelic, I. pledges himself to learn, 
71. 

General Assembly, the, allusion to 
Lord Cockb urn's graphic sketches 
of, 38 ; I.'s violent attempt to gain 
admission into, 39 ; Chalmers's re- 
ference to I.'s presence, during the 
discussion on the Abolition of 
Tests, in, and warm discussion on 
the validity of his commission to, 
262; respect shown to I. by the 
Commissioner and the Moderator 
of, 263 ; prayers offered up by I. 
and his Church for the guidance 
of, 311 ; motion against I. carried 
in, 314; orders against him issued 
by, 384. 

Glasgow, I. invited to become Dr 
Chalmers's assistant in, 49 ; his 
objection to be intruded on Dr 
Chalmers's congregation at, 50 ; 
his position in, 52 ; discou tented 
state of the working classes, and 
fears of a rising during his resi- 
dence in, 53 ; his expressions of 
sympathy for the sufferings of the 
poor in, 54; indifference to his 
preaching manifested by the popu- 
lation of, 60 ; I.'s unsuccessful at- 
tempt to discover exculpatory evi- 
dence in favour of a murderer in the 
jail of, 64 ; growing dissatisfaction 
with his position in, 67 ; his fare- 
well sermon at, 74 ; visit, on the 
occasion of his marriage, to, 88 ; 
cold reception given him on a sub- 
sequent visit to, 266 ; his final 
visit to, 423 ; his last labours, and 
death, in, 424. 

Gordon, Eev. Dr Eobert, of Edin- 
burgh, dedication of I.'s Argument 
for Judgment to come, to, 86 ; al- 
lusion to I. in a letter written by, 
87; takes part in the opening serv- 
ices of the National Scotch Church, 
Eegent Square, 207. 

Gray's Inn Lane, secession of I.'s 
congregation to a large room in, 
369. 



23 



Haddington, I. appointed master of 
a new mathematical school at, 20 ; 



434 



INDEX. 



measuring heights and distances in 
the neighbourhood of, 25 ; Mr Al- 
exander Inglis's recollections of so- 
ciety in, 26; I.'s independence in 
his humble lodgings at, 27 ; subse- 
quent visit to, 86. 

Haldane, Mr James, author of a pam- 
phlet attacking the doctrine of I. on 
the person and atonement of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, 269. 

Hall, Miss, a prophetess convinced of 
her delusion, I.'s touching allusion 
to, on his trial before the Presby- 
tery of London, 364. 

Hamilton, Mr William, I.'s brother- 
in-law, allusions to, passim; ex- 
tract of letter from I. to, 72 ; 
his helpfulness to I., 155; notice 
of I. by, 218 ; his marriage with 
I.'s sister-in-law, 226 ; dedication 
of the Last Days to, 238 ; his un- 
certainty and anxiety respecting the 
manifestations, 332 ; letter from I. 
to, ib. 

Hamilton, Mrs, description of a vio- 
lent commotion on occasion of the 
manifestations in Eegent Square 
Church, by, 324. 

Hanna, Eev. Dr, Dr Chalmers's son- 
in-law and biographer, his early 
recollections of I., 48 ; his notice 
of Chalmers' and I.'s last appear- 
ance together at St John's, Glas- 
gow, 89. 

Hanna, Eev. Mr, Belfast, brotherly 
hospitality displayed to I. in a di- 
lemma by, 48. 

Hannah, the Annan girl, history of, 
7 ; pleasant anecdote regarding, 8. 

Harrowgate, I.'s projected visit for 
the benefit of his health to, 246 ; 
probable advantage, if continued, 
of the use of the waters at, 247. 

Healing, the gift of, J. Macdonald 
endowed with, 289. 

Hebrews, the Epistle to, I.'s remarks 
on, 131. 

Hercules, a Scottish, amusing anec- 
dote of, 2. 

Heresy, first charge, against I., of, 
219 ; growing whispers of, 269. 

History, a family, 161. 

Hooker, Eichard, I.'s early apprecia- 
tion of the works of, 19. 

Hope, Adam, parish schoolmaster, the 



instructor of Edward Irving and 
Thomas Carlyle, 8. 

Hope Park Chapel, Edinburgh, a 
series of lectures preached by I. in, 
260. 

Howys, the, a family of Albigenses, 
among the forefathers of the Liv- 
ings, 11. 

Hunt, Leigh, letter from Charles 
Lamb, relating to I., in the corre- 
spondence of, 98. 

Incarnation, the, sketch of the me- 
thod and substance of, 247 ; mis- 
statements of I.'s doctrine on, 257 ; 
the consolation and strength deriv- 
ed by him from his views regarding, 
272 ; essence of his belief on, 278 ; 
remarkable letter from I. to Eev. 
Mr Dodson, 279 ; revolting nature 
of the discussion on, 390. 

Infidelity, remarks on, 174 ; activity 
of, 175 ; best manner of contending 
with, 176. 

Inn, a Highland, I.'s adventure in, 
38. 

Intellect, a logical, 148. 

Introduction, letters of, I.'s dislike 
to, 156. 

Invitation, an imprudent, 75 ; the re- 
sults of, 78. 

Ireland, I.'s wanderings in the north 
of, 49 ; visit with his wife to, 299 ; 
gigantic holiday labour in, 300. 

Irving, Edward, his birth at an event- 
ful crisis of the world's history, 1 ; 
his brothers and sisters, 3 ; his 
feelings on his brother John's death 
in India, ib. ; explanation of the 
"squint" in his eye, 6; glimpse 
of his school- days, 9 ; his early pro- 
ficiency in athletic exercises, ib. ; 
his perilous adventure on the Sol- 
way, 10; early manifestation of his 
characteristic generosity, 11 ; his 
statement as to the lengthened 
course of education required for the 
ministry of the Church of Scotland, 
15 ; his entrance into the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, 16 ; his first 
primitive establishment in that city, 
17 ; his early reading, and first in- 
dication of his oratorical gifts, 
19 ; descriptions of him by Tho- 
mas Carlyle and by one of his 



INDEX. 



435 



pupils, 20, 22 ; the early critical 
and even sceptical tendency of his 
mind, 24 ; walk to Edinburgh, to 
hear Dr Chalmers preach, 25 ; his 
early opinions on the destiny of the 
human race, 26 ; his personal ap- 
pearance at twenty years of age, 
29 ; appointed master of Kirkcaldy 
Academy, 30 ; licensed to preach 
the Gospel, 35 ; anecdotes illustra- 
tive of his occasional pugnacity, 
38 ; unsuccessful attempt to im- 
prove his position by taking board- 
ers, 40 ; his missionary scheme, 
45 ; preaches in St George's, Edin- 
burgh, before Dr Chalmers and Dr 
Andrew Thomson, 47 ; his reck- 
less voyage to Ireland, and awk- 
ward contretemps in Belfast, 48 ; 
his capricious mode of escaping from 
his perplexity, 49 ; continued un- 
certainty of his position, ib. ; invit- 
ed by Dr Chalmers to become his 
assistant, 50 ; anecdotes relating to 
his remarkable personal appearance, 
51 ; his early political tendencies, 
53 ; simplicity and straight-for- 
wardness of his character, 57, 63 ; 
his apostolic demeanour, 58 ; his 
forgetfulness of an engagement, 
and the consequence resulting from 
it, 62 ; his ordination, 75 ; com- 
mencement of his labours in Lon- 
don, 76 ; origin of his popularity, 
79 ; his position in London at the 
commencement of his career, 81 ; 
publication of his first work, 83 ; 
his marriage, 87 ; his admiration 
for the great old English writers, 
90 ; project of building a new 
church for him, 93 ; his incessant 
labours, 94 ; birth of his first 
child, 99 ; his unbounded gener- 
osity and hospitality, 101 ; his con- 
siderate manner of visiting the 
poor, 108 ; amusing personal anec- 
dote of, 109 ; his visit to Scotland, 
and death of his son, 112; his re- 
markable Journal, 120 ; his morn- 
ing devotions and studies, 123, 130, 
152; his visits and counsels to the 
members of his congregation, 125; 
his "spiritual visitants," 135 ; a rich 
harvest to his ministry, 142 ; testi- 
mony to the effect of his discourses, 



143; his pastoral visits, 144; his 
attendance at the funeral of a son 
in the Gospel, 184 ; progress in his 
conceptions of Christian faith and 
Church polity, 197 ; remarkable 
illustration of the candour and 
simplicity of his mind, 199 ; tem- 
porary relaxation of his labours, 
200 ; his position and prospects on 
the opening of the National Scotch 
Church, Regent Square, ib. ; a birth 
and bereavement in his family, 
216 ; his mission to Scotland, 225 ; 
his reflections on his thirty-sixth 
birth-day, 241 ; his dissatisfaction 
at a lengthened separation from his 
wife, 247 ; his wonderful activity, 
249 j bis first out-door religious 
services,' 252 ; gathering of the 
storm that was to overwhelm him, 
253 ; his desire for academical dis- 
tinction, 254; remarkable power 
of his voice, (note) 265 ; influence 
of the manifestations in the West 
of Scotland on his mind, 290 ; his 
final parting with Dr Chalmers, 
293 ; his fears and hopes at the 
deathbed of his little boy, 294 ; his 
new surrounding, 295 ; impressive 
Sunday service immediately after 
the death of one of his children, 
298 ; his conception of what it is 
to be " furnished for the ministry," 
303 ; his isolated position after 
denying the authority of the Pres- 
bytery of London, 306 ; his deter- 
mination to defend his rights when 
he considers them assailed, 315 ; 
he authorizes " prophets " to have 
liberty of speech in the congrega- 
tion, 321 ; his reluctance to break 
the bond that connected him with 
his old congregation, ib. ; his 
address to the congregation in view 
of ejection from the Church, 348 ; 
charges made by the Trustees a- 
gainst him, 355 ; his trial before 
the Presbytery of London, 357 ; 
his removal from the charge of the 
National Scotch Church, 366 ; an- 
ecdotes illustrative of his regard for 
children, 370, 378 ; his unbounded 
hospitality in Judd Place, 373 ; 
his distribution of tokens in New- 
man Street, 384; his doubts and 



436 



INDEX. 



misgivings, 386 ; his lofty reason- 
ableness even at the height of his 
inspiration, 389 ; his trial and de- 
fence before the Presbytery of An- 
nan, 392; forbidden by the Spirit to 
exercise priestly powers, 397 ; ap- 
pointed Angel, or Chief Pastor, of 
the Church in Newman Street, 
398 ; addresses his dying child in 
godly words, 399 ; difficulties of 
his position in the new church, 
402 ; his submission to the rebuke 
of the Apostles, 407 ; respect 
shown to him beyond his own 
congregation, 409 ; his journey 
through England and "Wales to 
Scotland, 410, et seq. ; deceived by 
the delusive symptoms of return- 
ing health, 41 7 ; his application 
of a desperate remedy, 420 ; his 
yearning for the presence of his 
wife, 421 ; his voyage to Glasgow, 
423 ; his latter days in that city, 
424 ; his death, and burial in Glas- 
gow Cathedral, 426, 427. 

Irving, Edward, the works of, The 
Last Days, 68 ; Thirty Sermons 
taken in Short-hand by W. J. Ox- 
ford, 80 ; Argument for Judgment 
to Come, S3 ; Orations, ib. ; Ser- 
mon preached before London Mis- 
sionary Society, 97 ; Volume of 
Sermons, 103 ; Babylon and Infi- 
delity Foredoomed, 107 ; Transla- 
tion of Ben-Ezra's Coming of the 
Messiah, 119; Missionaries and 
Missions, 155 ; Lectures on Bap- 
tism, 216; Sermons on the Trini- 
ty, 219 ; Christ's Holiness in the 
Flesh, 222 ; The Martyrs, a Tale, 
246 ; Lectures on Revelation, 272 ; 
Papers in the Morning Watch, 
272, 338, 374 ; Papers in Frazer's 
Magazine, lib ; The Orthodox and 
Catholic Doctrine of the Human 
Nature of Christ, 278 ; Original 
Standards of the Church of Scot- 
land, 337. 

Irving, Gavin, the family, occupation, 
and children of, 1, 3; the house 
and household of, 6 ; his election as 
one of the magistrates of Annan, 
14. 

Irving, John, I.'s eldest brother, his 
death in India, 3. 



Irvingism, Mr Baxter's pamphlet on, 
description of the place and form 
of worship of the Apostolic Church 
contained in, 384. 

Irvingites, first playful application 
of this term, 29 ; chivalry of the 
schoolboys so designated, 32. 

Jews, threatened assault on I. by, 372. 

John, St, Correggio's head of, its 
resemblance to I.'s, 145. 

John's, St., Glasgow, I.'s first sermon 
before the congregation of, 51 ; 
views with which Dr Chalmers got 
himself transferred, to the parish of, 
56; character and condition of the 
population of, ib. ; light in which 
I. was regarded by the parishioners 
of, 65 ; his grateful testimony to 
the kindness shown him by the 
people of, 66 ; Chalmers's farewell 
sermon in the church of, 88 ; I.'s 
appearance on the same occasion in, 
89. 

Johnstone, Dr Brice, I.'s occasional 
early intercourse with, 15. 

Journal, a remarkable, written by I. 
to his wife during her long absence 
from home, 120, et seq. 

Kerr, Mrs Stewart, letter describing 
I.'s appearance by, 423. 

Kingston, Jamaica, I. invited to take 
the pastoral charge of a Presby- 
terian congregation at, 67. 

Kirkcaldy, I. appointed master of a 
new school established at, 29 , 
strange costume in which he made 
his first appearance in, 30 ; recol- 
lections of I.'s severe discipline at 
the Academy of, ib. ; system of 
education followed by him at, 32 ; 
his friendly intercourse with his 
pupils at, 33 ; exercises his gift of 
preaching with little success at, 
35 ; reminiscences of I. in, 41 ; 
his marriage to the daughter of 
the parish minister of, 87 ; Mrs 
Irving' s subsequent visit to, 110; 
fatal accident at the parish church 
of, 235 ; example of I.'s literal 
faith on visiting a dying man at, 
267. 

Lacunza. See Ben-Ezra. 

" Lag," the, the Claverhouse of the 






INDEX. 



437 



Border, a woman-servant's tales 
of, 5. 

Lamb, Charles, extract from a letter 
of, written after' his introduction 
to I., 98. 

Languages, modern, I.'s application 
to the study of, 42. 

" Last Days," the, I.'s account of the 
circumstances under which he was 
called to London contained in the 
Dedication of, 68. 

Law, the, I.'s precis of his sermon 
on the bondage of, 171. 

Lawrie, Sir Peter, invites I. to re- 
side at his house, 123. 

Leather, the test of a preacher's 
ability found in the knowledge of, 
57. 

Legacy, a, I.'s application of, 60. 

Leslie, Sir John, an early patron of 
I.'s, 20. 

Letters, I.'s : to a friend, 46 ; to the 
Eev. Mr Martin, in reference to 
his sermon before Drs Chalmers 
and Thomson, 47 ; to friends in 
Kirkcaldy, 49 ; to his brother-in- 

,. law, Mr Fergusson, on the state of 
Glasgow, 54; to his friend and 
pupil, Miss Welsh, on his call to 
and reception in London, 69 ; to 
Mr Dinwiddie and others, on his 
call to the Caledonian Chapel, 
Hatton Garden, 70; to Mr W. 
Hamilton, 72, 332, 411 ; to the 
Eev. Dr Martin, announcing the 
birth of a son, 99 ; to Mrs Irv- 
ing, 110, 116, 117, 118, 226, 233, 
237, 239, 246, 261 ; to Mr W. Ha- 
milton, on the death of his son 
Edward, 113 ; to his daughter 
" Maggie," 251 ; to Dr Chalmers, 
congratulating him on his appoint- 
ment to the Theological Chair in 
Edinburgh University, 254 ; to 
the same, on a point of theological 
order, 255; to Mr Macdonald, on 
a proposed course of Lectures in 
Edinburgh, 259 ; to " Maggie," 
describing a visit to Birmingham, 
260 ; to his wife, recounting his 
progress in Scotland, 263; to the 
same, containing an account of the 
third Albury Conference, 273 ; to 
the Eev. Marcus Dods, on the con- 
troversy regarding the Incarna- 



tion, 279; to Dr Chalmers, 281, 
292 ; from Albury Park to his wife, 
296, 297 ; to Mrs Martin, 297 ; to 
his sister-in-law, Elizabeth, re- 
lating an incident in his Irish 
travels, 300; to his "dear sister 
Margaret " on her marriage, 302 , 
to a friend in Edinburgh, on the 
censure pronounced against him 
and his books in the General As- 
sembly, 314 ; to Mr Story, Bos- 
neath, 317; to Dr Martin, on the 
manifestations, 320 ; to Mr Mac- 
donald, on the same subject, 326 ; 
to the Trustees of the National 
Scotch Church, on the future order 
of worship, 335 ; to the Session of 
the same Church, 340 ; to Eev. 
Mr Story, on Baxter and on " pro- 
phesying," 343 ; to the Trustees 
of Eegent Square Church, 349 ; to 
his opponents, 352 ; to the Editor 
of the Morning Watch, on the sub- 
jugation of disease by faith, 374 ; 
to the Eev. Mr Campbell, of Eow, 
on spiritual manifestations, 386 ; 
to Dr Martin, on the death of a 
son, 399 ; extracts from letters 
written during a visit to Scotland, 
406 ; to his children, descriptive 
of his journey through Wales, 412 ; 
to his wife, relating his progress, 
ib. ; birthday epistle to Maggie, 
416; extract from his last letter 
to Mr W. Hamilton, 424. 

Letters : — from Dr Chalmers, on I.'s 
position in London, 78 ; from 
Charles Lamb, on making the ac- 
quaintance of I., 98 ; from a lady, 
describing the generous kindness 
of I. to a fallen probationer of the 
Scottish Church (extract), 100 ; 
from the Eev. Dr Martin, Kirk- 
caldy, on the death of I.'s first 
child, 112; from Mrs Irving, on 
I.'s progress in Scotland in 1828 
(extract), 225 ; from the Eev. Mr 
Brodie, on the celebration of the 
communion in Newman Street, 
403 ; from Mrs Stewart Kerr, 423. 

Licence to preach in the Church of 
Scotland, trials for, 35. 

London, I.'s account of his recepti ^ 
in, 69 ; commencement of his lu 
hours in, 76 ; comparative ob- 



438 



INDEX. 



scurity of his first year in, 80 ; re- 
turn, after his marriage, to, 93; 
return, after a journey in Scotland, 
to, 118 ; his account of two hoys 
"belonging to, 147 ; movement 
against him in the Presbytery of, 
304. 

Lord's Prayer, the, why not con- 
cluded in the name of Christ, 171. 

Lorimer, Bev. Dr, senior minister of 
Haddington, his advice to I. on 
profitless speculation, 26. 

Lowthers, the, the family of, 1. 

Lowther, George, amusing anecdote 
of, 2 ; rescue of Edward and John 
Irving from imminent peril in the 
Solway by, 10. 

Lowther, Mary, wife of Gavin, and 
mother of Edward Irving, the cha- 
racter and appearance of, 6. 

Lowther, Tristram, the Wilful, cha- 
racteristic monument in memory 
of, 2 ; allusion, in a letter from I. 
to his wife, to, 118. 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, re- 
mark of I.'s on the article on Mil- 
ton by, 138 ; proposed visit to, for 
the purpose of enlightening him 
on the true character of the subject 
of his critique, 145. 

Macdonalds, the, of Port Glasgow, 
manifestation of the gift of healing 
by, 288. 

Macdonald, Miss, I.'s residence in 
the house of, 236 ; his great esteem 
for, 243; residence of his family 
with, 248. 

Macintosh, Sir James, his early ap- 
preciation of I., 79. 

Maclean, Rev. Hugh, remarkable 
charge delivered by I. on the or- 
dination of, 217; commencement 
of ecclesiastical proceedings against, 
283. 

M'Neil, Eev. Hugh, moderator of 
the First Albury Conference, 204. 

" Maggie," a daughter of I.'s, a mes- 
sage from him to, 251 ; account of 
the Second Albury Conference in 
a letter to, 251; amusing descrip- 
tion of his visit to Birmingham in 
a letter to, 260 ; sacred song com- 
posed by, 291. 

Magistrates, their power in the 
Church, 122. 



Manchester, I.'s visit to, and praise 
of the munificent liberality of the 
Grants of, 261. 

Mandeville, Lord, a member of the 
Albury Conference, 273. 

Manifestations, the, the Times' ac- 
count of, 325 ; letter from I. con- 
taining notice of, 326; the open- 
ing services in Newman Street 
varied by, 382. 

Mann, Mr, the opponent of I. before 
the London Presbytery, 356. 

Marriage, I.'s, 87 ; his holiday excur- 
sion on the occasion, 88. 

Martin, David, celebrated Scotch 
painter, the family of I.'s wife 
connected with, 87. 

Martin, the Bev. Dr, of Kirkcaldy, 
his character as a parish priest, 34 ; 
I.'s intercourse with the family of, 
35 ; various letters to and from, 
see Letters. 

Martin, Isabella, daughter of the 
preceding, I.'s engagement to, 34; 
nis marriage to, and her character 
as a wife, 87. 

Martins, the, I.'s dedication of his 
work on Church and State to three 
generations of, 270. 

Martvrs, the, a Tale, the only fiction 
written by I., 246. 

Mary, I.'s servant, his frequent ex- 
pressions of regard for, and inter- 
est in, 192, &c. 

Mason, Dr, of New York, report that 
his congregation were making in- 
quiries about I. as successor to, 
71. 

Mathematics, early manifestation of 
I.'s liking for, 9. 

Maurice, the Bev. F. D., his opinion 
on I.'s expulsion from the Scotch 
Church, 366. 

Melbourne, Lord, remarkable inter- 
view of I. with, 308. 

Millennium, the, I.'s ideas regard- 
ing, 92. 

Miller, Bev. Mr, Independent min- 
ister, his adherence with his con- 
gregation to the Catholic Apostolic 
Church, 400. 

Ministers, Scotch, prolonged proba- 
tion of, 16. 

Missionary Society, the London, I. 
invited to preach the anniversary 
sermon on behalf of, 95; excite- 



INDEX. 



439 



ment produced by the unexpected 
oration delivered before, 96. 

Missionary, an Apostolic, I.'s idea of 
going abroad in the capacity of 
45 ; his return to the same project 
in Glasgow, 67 ; his picture of, in 
a sermon preached before the 
London Missionary Society, 96. 

Missionaries, four German, I.'s inter- 
course with, 182. 

Money, anecdote illustrative of I.'s 
indifference to, 109. 

Montague, Mr Basil, I.'s introduc- 
tion to, and intercourse with, 91 ; 
dedication of a volume of sermons 
to, 103 ; I.'s residence in the house 
of, 111. 

" Morning Watch," the, a quarterly 
Journal of Prophecy, 257 ; I.'s all- 
pervading influence over the writ- 
ers in, 258 ; his contributions to, 
272, 338 ; its devotion to the cause 
of the Catholic Apostolic Church, 
378; singular reason for the dis- 
continuance of, 400. 

Mother, the sufferings of an afflicted, 
164. 

Newman Street, the Catholic Apo- 
stolic Church in, opening services 
of, 382 ; prophetical interdict for- 
bidding I. to exercise priestly 
functions in, 397 ; Dr Addison 
Alexander's remarks on the service 
of, 399 ; Rev. Mr Brodie's letter 
on the celebration of the Commu- 
nion in, 403. 

Oak, the Eoyal, I.'s description of a 
visit to, and his account of the sto- 
ry connected with, 413. 

" Orations," the, original character 
and object of, 83 ; the preface to, 
85 ; the reception by the public of, 
86 ; preparation of a third edition 
of, 90. 

Ordination, I.'s, by the Presbytery of 
Annan, 75. 

Orme, Mr W., Secretary of the Lon- 
don Missionary Society, expostula- 
tory letter on the publication of 
I.'s Missionary Sermon, from, 99. 

Orthodoxy, theological, I.'s impa- 
tience with the bigoted professors of, 



74 ; in his own belief a sincere de- 
fender of, 256. 

Ossian, I.'s youthful recitations from, 
19. 

Oxford, "W". J., publication of thirty 
of I.'s early sermons taken in short- 
hand by, 80. 

Paget, Bev. Mr, of Leicester, I.'s 
high esteem for, 242 ; certain theo- 
logical opinions of, 243. 

Paine, Peggy, I.'s first school-mis- 
tress, 7. 

Parables, remarks on, 191. 

Pauperism, Dr Chalmers's wonderful 
conflict with, 57. 

Pedestrian exercises, I.'s early fond- 
ness for, 18. 

Perth, Bev. J. Taylor's recollections 
of I.'s visit to, 236. 

Pilkington, Mr, account of the pro- 
phetic manifestations in Begent 
Square by, 323. 

Pillory, an impromptu, 2. 

" Plate," the, weekly offering made at 
the doors of churches in Scotland, 
56 ; extraordinary success, under 
the direction of Dr Chalmers, of, 57. 

Pluralities, interest excited in the 
General Assembly by the debate on, 
39. 

Politics, I.'s early views on, 53. 

Poor, the, Dr Chalmers's views on the 
best means of providing for, 56 ; 
I.'s account of his intercourse with, 
59 ; his friendly and considerate 
manner in his visits to, 108. 

Power, lovers of, 129. 

Powerscourt, Ladv, visit of I. and 
family to, 299. 

Prayer, under- current of thought dur- 
ing, 189. 

Preaching, the foolishness of, 43 ; Dr 
Chalmers's opinion of I.'s, 61 ; I.'s 
successful realization of his original 
ideas on, 84. 

Prefaces, I.'s, the characteristics of, 
90. 

Presbytery, the, of London, its pro- 
ceedings against the Bev. Alexan- 
der Scott, 284 ; opinion of the 
Record on, 285 ; I.'s isolated po- 
sition after denying the authority 
of, 306 ; appeal of the Kirk-Ses- 



440 



INDEX. 



sion and Trustees of the National 
Scotch Church to, 350; charges 
made against I. hefore, 355 ; his 
trial by, 357 ; extracts from I.'s 
reply to, 360 ; the decision of, 366. 

Presbyteries, illustration of the strange 
nature of the proceedings in, 276. 

Priestcraft, I.'s manner of dealing 
with an abominator of, 63. 

Probationer, I.'s unsuccessful career 
as a, 42 ; his generous kindness to 
an unworthy one in London, 100. 

Procter, Mr, visit to, 145. 

Prophecy, I.'s sermon preached be- 
fore the Continental Society on, 
104 ; Mr Hatley Frere's new 
scheme for the interpretation of, 
ib. ; union of the students of, 202 ; 
appearance of the Morning Watch, 
a Quarterly Journal for the pro- 
motion of the study of, 257. 

" Prophets," the, liberty of speech 
granted to, 321. 

Protestant Association, organization 
of, 241. 

Psalms, the, I.'s consolation in the 
night season derived from, 420. 

Psalms, the Scottish version of, its 
temporary use in the congregations 
of the Catholic Apostolic Church, 
371. 

Radicalism, I.'s opinion as to the 

origin of, 122. 
Rainy, Dr, particulars relating to I.'s 

last illness communicated by, 425. 
Reading, I.'s Scriptural, theological, 

and historical, 120, 190. 
"Eecord," the, its remarks on I.'s 

removal from the charge of the 

National Scotch Church, 367. 
Eeligion, state of, in Scotland, at the 

period of the French Revolution, 

3,4. 
Revelation, issue in weekly numbers 

of Lectures on, 272. 
Revolution, the French, I.'s opinion 

as to the causes of, 120. 
Rome, remarks on the History of, 

180. 
Rosneath, I.'s farewell visit to, be- 
fore proceeding to London, 73 ; 

his marriage visit to, 88 ; state of 

the country surrounding, at the 



time of his Lectures on the Second 
Advent in, 233. 

Samuel, Peter, one of the fruits of 
I.'s ministry, 141. 

Salutation, the Apostolic, I.'s solemn 
use of, 58. 

Satan (Milton's), effect produced by 
I.'s recitation of one of the 
speeches of, 32 ; a temptation of, 
142. 

Scoresby, Mr, I.'s intercourse with, 
163. 

Scotland, characteristic picture of the 
former condition of, 13 ; the family 
ties of, 163 ; decay of piety in, and 
deterioration of the ministers of, 
184 ; excitement caused by the 
Apocalyptic controversy in, 215 ; 
annunciation of the Second Advent 
in, 225; critical period of religi- 
ous thought in, 232; two things, 
in I.'s opinion, of fearful omen in, 
292; I. sent on a prophetic mis- 
sion to, 408 ; his progress through 
England and Wales to, 410. 

Scotland, the Church of, its condition 
at the time of I.'s -birth, 3, 4; 
state of education at a previous 
period in, 8 ; lengthened process 
of instruction for the ministry of, 
15; trials for licence to preach in, 
35 ; pluralities in, 39 ; doctrine of 
the headship of Christ as main- 
tained by, 197 ; I.'s sermon on 
the Ancient Purity and Fulness of, 
224 ; his constant appeal to the 
earlier Confessions of, ib. ; his 
view of the evangelical party in, 
293; his publication of the ori- 
ginal standards of, 337 ; his re- 
markable prophecy regarding the 
coming rending of, 377. 

Scott, the Rev. Alex., engaged as I.'s 
assistant, 234 ; his opinion regard- 
ing the supernatural powers of the 
Church, 275 ; appointed minister 
of the Scotch Church at Wool- 
wich, 279 ; proceedings in the 
Presbytery against, 284 ; the li- 
cence to preach withdrawn from, 
314; the manifestations in I.'s 
Church disapproved by, 386. 

Seamen's (Destitute) Asylum, the, 



INDEX. 



441 



I.'s testimony to the excellence of, 
303. 

Seeley, the publisher, I.'s contract 
with, 245. 

Sermons, I.'s auto-da-fe of his early, 
43 ; a friend's perplexities as to the 
preparation of his farewell one at 
Glasgow, 73 ; Oxford's publication 
of thirty taken in short-hand, 80 ; 
delivered on special occasions, 97, 
104, 106 ; publication of a volume 
of, 104. 

Services, I.'s, discussion in the Ses- 
sion on the unusual length of, 151. 

Shoemaker, an infidel, I.'s amusing 
interview with, 57. 

Simon, Father, 190. 

Sloan, Ber. Mr, one of I.'s judges in 
the Presbytery of Annan, 392. 

Society, Highland School, I.'s ser- 
mon on behalf of, 106. 

Solway, the, perilous adventure of 
Edward and John Irving during 
the reflux of, 10. 

Sondes, Lord, the remarkable hospi- 
tality of, 118. 

Sottomayors, the, Spanish refugees, 
119; Translation into Spanish of 
Doddridge's Rise and Progress of 
Religion in the Soul by one of, 
125 ; difficulty encountered by the 
wife of the elder in renouncing 
Catholicism, ib.; I.'s exertions in 
behalf of, 135 ; takes lessons in 
Spanish with one of, 190. 

Soul, the, the laws of, 141. 

Spirit, the Holy, the influence of, 
179; one, without knowing it, 
taught of, 193 ; the work, in con- 
vincing of sin, of, 242. 

Spirits, the, I.'s trial of, 319. 

Sponging-house, a, I.'s visit to, 162. 

Stewart, Eev. Mr, of Bolton, roman- 
tic marriage of, 26 ; I.'s intercourse 
with, 27. 

Story, Eev. Mr, Eosneath, I.'s fare- 
well visit, on leaving Glasgow, to, 
73 ; astonishment at the variety of 
I.'s capabilities evinced by, ib. ; I.'s 
marriage visit to, 88 ; letter from 
I. to, 343 ; last visit of I. to, 425. 

Stowe, Mr David, the Educational 
Eeformer, his testimony to I.'s un- 
wearied labours in Glasgow, 64. 

Stuarts, the, I.'s opinion on the down- 
fall of, 120. 



Sugden, Sir Edward, the case between 
I. and the Trustees of the Nation- 
al Scotch Church submitted to, 
347. 

Sumner, Eev. Dr, anecdote relating 
to the appointment, as Bishop of 
Chester, of, 242. 

Sunday, a, I.'s account of the services 
of, 131, 148. 

Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Eoad, 
I.'s missionary sermon preached in, 
95. 

Tait, Eev. Mr, founder of the Catho- 
lic Apostolic Church at Edinburgh, 
405. 

Taliesin, the Prince of British Bards, 
I.'s account, for his daughter, of, 
420. 

Taylor, the Sceptic, I.'s help craved 
against, 174. 

Tests, position of I. and Chalmers 
with reference to the abolition of, 
230. 

Theology, I.'s views, as a branch of 
Christian education, of, 282, 292. 

Thomson, Dr Andrew, I. invited to 
preach before Chalmers in the 
church of, 46 ; his prominent po- 
sition in the Apocrypha contro- 
versy, 215. 

Time, I.'s disposition and employ- 
ment of, 109. 

"Times," the, its remarks on I.'s re- 
moval from the charge of the 
Scotch National Church, Eegent 
Square, 365. 

Toleration, a remark of I.'s on, 1 22. 

" Tongues," the, I.'s account of the 
first manifestation, in London, of, 
318; description of, 327; I.'s 
statement regarding, 328 ; very or- 
dinary character of the English 
utterances of, 329 ; " virtuous in- 
dignation" excited by the mani- 
festations of, 330. 

Tribes, the, Mr Drummond's intelli- 
gence regarding the discovery of, 
243. 

Trinity, the, I.'s sermons on, 219. 

Ulster, I.'s interest in the organiza- 
tion and affairs of the Synod of, 
50. 

Understanding, the, the idolatry of, 
181. 



442 



INDEX. 



University, the London, I.'s opposi- 
tion to the establishment of, 129. 

Universities, the Scottish, an ac- 
knowledged defect of, 15. 

Van Biilow, reference in a letter from 
I. to his wife to, 237. 

Vaughan, Rev. W., of Leicester, his 
influence on the mind of I., 103; 
I.'s visits to, 218, 251. 

Visions of Judgment, Byron and 
Southey's, I.'s Argument for Judg- 
ment to Come suggested by, 85. 

"Wales, I.'s description of his journey 

through, 414. 
"Walthamstow, a visit to, 125. 



Wellington, the late Duke of, anec- 
dote relating to, 244. ','*]*** * 

Welsh, Miss, a favourite pup'il ef I.'s 
at Haddington, anecdote of, 44. 

Whyte, Mr, a member of the Albury 
Conference, 273. 

Wisdom, sublime evaluation, in the 
Book of Job, of, 181. 

Wolff, Rev. Joseph, a member of the 
Albury Conference, 205 ; incon- 
siderate bequest made to I. by, 271. 

Woodrow, Mr, and the Elders, 186. 



York, the Duke of, allusion in a let- 
ter of I.'s to a sermon preached by 
him before, 69. 






TEE END. 






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